yegua
/ˈʝeɡwa/ · A2 · noun · f
mare
🐴 Latin equa (mare) → yegua: same root as equine and equestrian
Latin equus is horse, equa is the female. Spanish turned the stressed short e into ie (equa → iegua), then spelled it with y: yegua. So yegua is literally the feminine of the equ- in equine. The heifer and insult senses are regional extensions.