Russian words конь and лошадь

Asked by George Jagels on August 7, 2019

Question

In an episode of the series Anna the Detective a young lady who has been living abroad with her aristocratic Russian mother returns to Russia and goes into a stable with a groom who points out a horse to her. She refers to is as a конь and he corrects her using the word лошад. Since my dictionary gives both words with no indication of which is preferred I was wondering which is the more commonly used word. Is there a nuance of difference?

Answer

Dear George,

The generic word for "horse" is лошадь.  It means that, if we do not know if the horse is a male or a female, we would say лошадь. Конь is used when if we know it is a male horse.

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