interbreed

English

Etymology

From inter- +‎ breed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnteɹˈbɹid/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːd

Verb

interbreed (third-person singular simple present interbreeds, present participle interbreeding, simple past and past participle interbred)

1. To breed or reproduce within an isolated community.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To breed or reproduce within a heterogenous community, the products of which produce hybrids.
   • 1909, Knowledge and Illustrated Scientific News, volume 32, page 426:

     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.

   • 2001 April 13, John Tierney, “The Big City; Stray Dogs As a Litigant's Best Friend”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     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."

   • 2009 January 29, Ray Collier, “Country diary”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     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.

   • 2017 April 19, Carl Zimmer, “Why Are Some Mice (and People) Monogamous? A Study Points to Genes”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     In the wild, deer mice and oldfield mice never interbreed.

Translations

to breed or reproduce within an isolated community

• Dutch: intelen

to breed or reproduce within a heterogenous community, the products of which produce hybrids

• Bulgarian: кръстосвам (bg) (krǎstosvam)
• Dutch: hybridiseren (nl)

References

• “interbreed”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “interbreed”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.