Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. They include for example Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Male deer of all species but the Chinese Water deer and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned animals such as antelope; these are in the same order as deer and may bear a superficial resemblance. The musk deer of Asia and Water Chevrotain (or Mouse Deer) of tropical African and Asian forests are not usually regarded as true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, respectively.
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Terminology
The word "deer" was originally quite broad in meaning, but became more specific over time. In Middle English der (O.E. dēor) meant a wild animal of any kind (as opposed to cattle, which then meant any domestic livestock, from the idea of ownership and related to chattle and capital).[1] This general sense gave way to the modern sense by the end of the Middle English period, around 1500. Cognates of English "deer" in several other languages still have the general sense of "animal" – for example German Tier, Dutch dier, and Scandinavian djur, dyr, dýr. "Deer" is the same in the plural as in the singular.
For most deer the male is called a buck and the female is a doe, but the terms vary with dialect, and especially according to the size of the species. For many larger deer the male is a stag and the female a hind, while for other larger deer the same words are used as for cattle: bull and cow. Terms for young deer vary similarly, with that of most being called a fawn and that of the larger species calf; young of the smallest kinds may be a kid. A group of deer of any kind is a herd.The adjective of relation pertaining to deer is cervine; like the family name "Cervidae" this is from Latin: cervus, "deer".
The word 'hart' is an old alternative word for "stag", related to the Dutch hert and the German Hirsch. It is especially used in a (British) Medieval hunting context.
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