heifer

The word "heifer" refers to a young female cow that has not yet had her first calf. This is an important distinction in farming. Once she gives birth, she is usually no longer called a heifer and is instead called a cow. Farmers use the term to talk about young female cattle that are being raised for breeding or milk production later on. A healthy heifer often represents the future of a herd.

Outside farming, "heifer" has also been used as an insult, especially for a woman. In that sense, it can suggest that someone is awkward, foolish, bad-tempered, or overweight. That use is clearly insulting, and in modern English it is generally seen as offensive. You may still come across it in older writing, regional speech, or speech meant to sound harsh.

The common and neutral meaning is still the farm meaning. You might read about a prize-winning heifer at a county fair, or a farmer selecting heifers for breeding. In those cases, the word is simply a normal livestock term. When the word is aimed at a person, though, it carries negative force and is best avoided.

So the word has two main sides: a straightforward farming meaning and a rude insulting one. In most careful English, it is safest to keep it in the farmyard sense, where it names a young female cow before her first calf.