Du Vieh

1. (uncountable, collective) livestock; farm animals (animals kept for their milk, meat, skin, etc.)

2. (countable, singulative) Alternative form of Viech (“animal, beast”)

3. (countable, figuratively, derogatory) beast; swine (person behaving in a boorish or inhumane way)

show ▼Declension of Vieh (uncountable)

Vieh is per se a collective noun (“livestock”), but is also sometimes used as a singulative (“animal”). For the latter case, however, there is no corresponding plural. Instead, a construction with Stück can be used: ein, zwei, drei Stück Vieh (“one, two, three head[s] of livestock”).

In Upper German areas, the variant Viech is also used as a singulative of Vieh, whence the plural Viecher (“animals”). In the north, however, Viech is not used in this neutral way but only with a pejorative sense (“beast, pest”).

In the figurative sense of “boorish, inhumane person”, an ad-hoc plural Viehe may be formed, but this is rare and nonstandard.