Sounder
collective noun /ˈsaʊndər/ — What you call a group of wild boars — one of the oldest words in English, from Anglo-Saxon.
Definition
The collective noun for a group of wild boars or pigs. A sounder typically consists of several sows and their young, led by the eldest female — a matriarchal family unit.
Beyond the definition
Wild boars are among the most intelligent and destructive large mammals in the world. A sounder moving through a forest floor can turn an acre of soil in a single night. The word sounds old and serious — which is exactly right for an animal that has coexisted with, and frequently outwitted, human hunters for thousands of years.
Origin & history
From Old English sunor — a herd of pigs. One of the oldest collective nouns in English, appearing in Anglo-Saxon farming records. The word survived because the distinction mattered: pigs in a sounder behave differently — more cautiously, more collectively — than solitary animals.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
A sounder of wild boar had rooted up the entire lower meadow before dawn.
The boar hunters tracked the sounder for two days through dense forest.
A sounder of eight crossed the road in a line, the piglets running to keep up.
Synonyms
group, herd, pack, drift
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Word in focus
A sounder of wild boars
Wild boars gathered in a grassy field.
Here, “sounder” names the whole gathering. Notice the animals together rather than looking for one individual with that name. The photograph illustrates the group; it is not evidence that this particular scene inspired the expression.
Image credit: TheFurther21 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (license)
Resized and converted to WebP; displayed with a fitted crop.