yoke

A yoke is a wooden or sometimes metal beam used to couple draft animals, typically oxen or horses, to a load such as a plow or cart. It sits across the necks or withers of the animals and provides a point of transfer for pulling power through traces or straps.

Designs vary by culture and era. The classic neck yoke places the beam over the necks and sits in a groove or against the withers, with rings or thongs attaching to the load. In some regions, shoulder or collar harnesses were developed to allow greater pulling strength and reduce stress on the neck, eventually supplanting the traditional yoke in many large-scale operations.

Yokes have a long history in farming and transportation, with archaeological and historical records in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. They enabled animal labor before the widespread use of metal harnesses and mechanical traction. They also appear in folk and religious symbolism in various cultures.

In contemporary farming, yokes are still used where traditional practices persist or for teaching draft-animal handling. The term yoke also has figurative uses in English, referring to a burden or something that binds or unites, as in bearing the yoke of oppression or being yoked to a task.

Etymology traces the word to Old English and Proto-Germanic roots, with cognates in Dutch juk and German Joch.