interbreed
part of speech
verb (interbreed, interbreeds, interbred, interbreeding)
meaning for a pupil
To interbreed means for animals or plants of different kinds, breeds or groups to mate and have young together. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, members of the same species can interbreed and have fertile young; that is one way scientists define a species. Different species usually cannot, or their young are infertile, like a mule from a horse and a donkey. Scientists found that early modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, so many people today carry a little Neanderthal DNA.
examples
- Lions and tigers can interbreed in zoos, but not in the wild. tree →
- Horses and donkeys interbreed to produce mules. tree →
- Wolves and dogs can interbreed. tree →
- Neanderthals and modern humans interbred long ago. tree →
- Farmers interbred cattle to get better milk. tree →
- Two species that cannot interbreed are kept apart by nature. tree →
note
Irregular past: interbred (not «interbreeded»). «Inter-» means between. Noun: interbreeding.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «interbreed» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.