hircine

/ˈhɜrsɑɪn/

If something reminds you of a goat, it's hircine. When your dog scrambles up a rocky hillside like a mountain goat, you can exclaim over her hircine antics.

This old-fashioned literary term is great for describing goats and also goat-like people. Historically, it's most often been used for people who smell bad, so feel free to use it when you're overcome by the smell of sweaty socks in your brother's room: "There's an unbearably hircine odor in here!" The Latin source of hircine is hircinus, "like a goat," and it shares a root with hirsute, "hairy."

Definitions of hircine

1. adjective

   of or pertaining to or suggestive of a goat (especially in strong odor)