mustang

Word family

• mustanger
  nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three terms refer to horses that live without constant human management, but they differ in specific meaning. A mustang is a very specific breed — the descendants of Spanish horses that went wild in North America — and is the only one of the three that designates a genetic lineage. Bronco comes from the Spanish word for 'rough' and describes any untrained or half-tamed horse, regardless of breed or origin; a ranch horse that has never been broken to ride is a bronco, but it is not a mustang unless it belongs to that specific breed line. Feral horse is the broadest category: it covers any domesticated horse (of any breed, in any country) that has returned to a wild state. For example, the brumbies of Australia and the Namib Desert horses of Africa are feral horses but not mustangs. In everyday American English, 'mustang' carries a romantic image of freedom and the American West, while 'bronco' emphasises wildness and unbroken spirit, and 'feral horse' is neutral and scientific.

Common collocations

Etymology

The word 'mustang' comes from the Spanish word 'mesteño' (later 'mostrenco'), which originally meant 'belonging to the Mesta' — a powerful association of cattle ranchers in medieval Spain. Horses that escaped or were released by Spanish explorers in the Americas became wild, and the term evolved in American English to refer specifically to these free-roaming horses. The name of the Himalayan kingdom of Mustang has an entirely different origin, coming from the Tibetan word 'Mun Tan' meaning 'plain of aspersion' or 'fertile land', and is unrelated to the horse's name.