cow
/kaʊ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.14 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Any member of the species Bos taurus that is not of a bucking breed or fighting breed, regardless of sex or age, including steers and calves.
Countable; Informal; Uncountable
noun
A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.
British usage; Countable; Derogatory; Informal; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The whole herd is out to pasture right now — the cows, calves, and heifers are out back, and the bulls are down by the creek."
- "We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls."
- "The only meat I eat is cow."
- "[…] the worst insult to a woman, either in London or Paris, is "cow"; a name which might even be a compliment, for cows are among the most likeable of animals."
- "Greville Preston: You've been set up, you silly cow. Now, don't let me hear any more about this unless you have absolute stand-up-in-court proof it's kosher... Mattie Storin: Pig."
- "By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill. For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws Proto-Germanic *kōz Proto-West Germanic *kō Old English cū Middle English cow English cow Inherited from Middle English cow, cou, from Old English cū (“cow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kō, from Proto-Germanic *kōz (“cow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”). Cognate with Sanskrit गो (go), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Persian گاو (gâv)), Latvian govs (“cow”), Proto-Slavic *govędo (Serbo-Croatian govedo, Russian говядина (govjadina, “beef”), Scots coo (“cow”), North Frisian ko, kø (“cow”), West Frisian ko (“cow”), Dutch koe (“cow”), Low German Koh, Koo, Kau (“cow”), German Kuh (“cow”), Danish and Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk ku (“cow”), Faroese kúgv (“cow”), Icelandic kýr (“cow”), Latin bōs (“ox, bull, cow”) (whence English beef), Armenian կով (kov, “cow”). Doublet of beef. The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (“cows”), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (“cows”), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cūna (“cows', of cows”), genitive plural of cū (“cow”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kaʊ/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Informal
- British usage
- Derogatory
- American usage
- Slang
- Transitive verb
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.