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# interbreed

«interbreed» in Mova's school dictionary: **for animals or plants of different kinds, breeds or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#m1)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x1)
- Horses and donkeys interbreed to produce mules. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x2)
- Wolves and dogs can interbreed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x3)
- Neanderthals and modern humans interbred long ago. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x4)
- Farmers interbred cattle to get better milk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x5)
- Two species that cannot interbreed are kept apart by nature. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/#x6)

### note

Irregular past: interbred (not «interbreeded»). «Inter-» means between. Noun: interbreeding.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «interbreed» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/interbreed/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.