General Rabbit Terms
Agouti colour - A hair shaft that has three or more bands of colour with a definite break between each colour.
Banding - A hair shaft having various colours. Normally associated with an agouti coat.
Base Colour - The color of the fur next to the skin.
BIS - Best in Show. Denotes the best rabbit at the show that day
Blaze - The white markings found on the head of the Dutch rabbit. It covers the nose, whisker bed and runs along the jawline.
BOB - Best of Breed. Denotes the best of a particular breed that day.
Broken Colour - Any recognised rabbit breed colour in conjunction with white.
Buck - An unaltered or intact male rabbit.
Butterfly - A nose marking found on many breeds and Broken varieties. The wing portions cover the whisker bed and upper lip, with the body or nose fork extending up the center of the face.
Chain -The arrangement of spots on an English Spot, starting at the ear/neck with spots about the size of a pea, and taking a downward course toward the stomach/abdomen.
Charlie - An extremely lightly marked animal in marked breeds or Broken Groups. Usually having coloured ears, light eye circles and a Charlie Chaplin mustache like marking for a butterfly and are also usually devoid of back and side markings.
Cheek - The rounded colour head marking that forms the blaze and carries down along the jaw line of a Dutch. Cobby - A term meaning stout and stocky.
Condition - The overall physical state of a rabbit in relation to its health, cleanliness, fur and grooming.
Crown - A strong basal ridge of cartilage at the top of the head between the ear base on some lop-eared breeds.
Dam - The mother of a rabbit.
Density - The property or quality of a thick coat of fur.
Definition - The sharpness and clarity of a colour break on a hair shaft, as the ring colour in Agouti fur.
Dewlap - A pendulous fold of loose skin which hangs from the throat. Common in does.
Doe - An unaltered or intact female rabbit.
Ear Lacing - A coloured line of fur which outlines the sides and tips of the ears.
Eye Circle - Even marking of colour around both eyes. Example: English Spot.
Fly Back - The property of fur that causes it to return quickly to its normal position when stroked toward the head of the rabbit.
Furnishings - The tassels and fringes on the ears, cheek and head trimmings on some long haired breeds.
Guard Hair - The longer, coarser, projecting hair of the rabbit's coat.
Kindling - The process of giving birth to kits.
Kit - Baby rabbit.
Lopped Ear - Pendulous ear. Not carried erect. Falling to the side.
Moult - The process of shedding or changing the fur.
Palpation - A method of examining by touch used to determine if a doe is pregnant.
Racy - A term meaning slim, trim, slender in body and legs, harelike, alert, and active.
Saddle - The rounded, intermediate portion of the back between the shoulder and loin.
Screw Tail - A tail that is twisted. A corkscrew tail has more than one turn and is a disqualification.
Self Colored - Having the same-coloured fur over the entire head, legs, body, and tail. Not having ticking, agouti hair pattern, or shadings.
Service - The mating act of the buck with the doe.
Snipey - A term describing a narrow and elongated head, with an appearance of undue leanness.
Sport - A rabbit not true to the characteristic markings of its breed. Examples: English Spot with no markings.
Stocky - A term meaning compact, stout, and cobby.
Stops - In the Dutch, the white part of the hind foot extending upward from toes and ending abruptly about one third of the way to the hocks.
Texture - The character of fur as determined by feel or touch, such as "fine" or "coarse" texture.
Type - A term used to denote body conformation of a rabbit or shape of a particular part of a rabbit, The general description of the physical makeup of the rabbit.
Wool - A term describing the fur of Angora rabbits. The guard hairs and under-fur being
2-1/2 to 5 inches long and resembling fine wool in texture.
