Dictionary

interbreed en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɪnteɹˈbɹid/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥tér Proto-Italic *n̥ter Latin inter Latin inter-bor. English inter- Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰroh₁tús Proto-Germanic *brōduz Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *brōdijaną Proto-West Germanic *brōdijan Old English brēdan Middle English breden English breed English interbreed From inter- + breed.

Meanings

1. To breed or reproduce within an isolated community.
2. (ambitransitive) To breed or reproduce within a heterogenous community, the products of which produce hybrids.
   • In the wild, deer mice and oldfield mice never interbreed. 2017 April 19, Carl Zimmer, “Why Are Some Mice (and People) Monogamous? A Study Points to Genes”, in The New York Times:
   • The rypes and our red grouse are identically the same bird, though disease has never been known in the former, and even interbreeding with the red grouse, to the limited extent they are ever likely to do, should do more good than harm. 1909, Knowledge and Illustrated Scientific News, volume 32, page 426:
   • The rock dove has so interbred with the feral pigeons from doocots and racing pigeon lofts that, as a pure species, it may possibly now be extinct in Britain. 2009 January 29, Ray Collier, “Country diary”, in The Guardian:
   • The city's two-inch Environmental Review Technical Manual instructs regulators to consider adverse environmental impacts on "any subspecies" or "any distinct population segment . . . which interbreeds when mature." 2001 April 13, John Tierney, “The Big City; Stray Dogs As a Litigant's Best Friend”, in The New York Times:

Forms

Deriveds

interbreeder

Translations (3)

nl intelen (to breed or reproduce within an isolated community) · bg кръстосвам (to breed or reproduce within a heterogenous community, the products of which produce hybrids) · nl hybridiseren (to breed or reproduce within a heterogenous community, the products of which produce hybrids)