cow
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: kou
ipa: /kaʊ/
rhymes: -aʊ
Forms: form: cows
form: cattle
form: kye
form: kine
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”), Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian ku (“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”).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
coordinate_terms: bull
bullock
calf
heifer
heiferette
qualifier: strictly
glosses: An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.
examples: text: We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls.
synonyms: cattle beast
glosses: Any member of the species Bos taurus that is not of a bucking breed or fighting breed, regardless of sex or age, including bulls and calves.
examples: text: The only meat I eat is cow.
glosses: Beef: the meat of cattle as food.
glosses: Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.
examples: text: […] 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.
ref: 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:
text: 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.
ref: 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.
topics: business
mining
coordinate_terms: dog
glosses: A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car.
examples: text: Colonel Red Reeder, West Point Second Classman
An assistant manager, wearing the stripes of a cadet corporal, walked up to Coach Smith. Clint knew him, a Cow from B-l. What had he done to become so outstanding that the Tacs made him a corporal?
text: When I was a cow (junior) at West Point, I dated a plebe (freshman), which is considered fraternization in the cadet realm.
ref: 2023, James E Parco, David A Levy, Daphne DePorres, Attitudes Aren't Free: A Call to Action, page 242:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A third-year cadet at West Point.
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A fish that is very large for its species, such as a large striped bass or large bluefin tuna.
Synonyms: sense: derogatory: despicable woman
word: bitch
sense: female animal; female bovine
english: child-directed speech
translation: child-directed speech
word: moo-cow
sense: female animal; female dolphin
word: dolphinet
sense: informal: anything annoyingly difficult
word: bastard
word: bitch
word: bugger
Hyponyms: sense: young or little
word: cowlet
sense: young or little
word: cowling
sense: dairy
word: dairy cow
sense: dairy
word: milk cow
Derived terms: all cows eat grass
ant cow
anticow
bell cow
black cow
brown cow
bull and cow
bulls and cows
bush cow
cash cow
cat-cow
cowback
cowbane
cowbarn
cow bell
cowbell
cow belt
cowberry
cow bingo
cowbird
cow bite
cow blowing
cowboy
cow cat
cow catcher
cowcatcher
cowchild
cow chip
cow-chip
cow-clicker
cow cocky
cow cod soup
cow college
cow corner
cow creamer
cowdom
cowdung
cow dung
cow-dung
cow elephant
cow-eyed
cow eyes
cowfinch
cowfish
cowflesh
cowfoot
cowfucker
cowgal
cowgirl
cow grease
cow gum
cowhand
cow-handed
cow handed
cowhearted
cow-hearted
cowheel
cowherb
cowherd
cowherder
cowhide
cow hitch
cow-hocked
cowhouse
cowish
cow juice
cowkeeper
cow killer
cowleech
cowless
cowlet
cowlick
cowlift
cowlike
cowling
cowlot
cow magnet
cowman
cow meat
cowmilk
cow milk
cow's milk
cow-mother
cowness
cownose
cow-orker
cow parsley
cow parsnip
cow-pat
cowpat
cow pat
cow patty
cowpath
cowpea
cowperson
cowpie
cow pie
cow-pilot
cowpiss
cowplop
cowpock
cowpoke
cowpony
cow pony
cowpool
cow pool
cowpooling
cowpox
cow print
cowproof
cow-puncher
cowpuncher
cowpunching
cowpunk
cow pusher
cowquake
cows and bulls
cowsense
cow shark
cowshed
cowshit
cow shot
cowskin
cow's lungwort
cow sociology
cowstall
cow stall
cowstealer
cow sucker
cowtail
cow-tastrophe
cowtastrophe
cow tipping
cowtown
cow town
Cowtown
cow-tree
cow tree
cowturd
cow urine
cow vetch
cow weed
cow-wheat
cowy
cowyard
cum cow
dairy cow
dark as the inside of a cow
dogcow
frozen cow juice
gentleman cow
have a cow
hay is for horses and cows
Highland cow
holy cow
how the cow ate the cabbage
hucow
in two shakes of a cow's tail
Japanese crab
kill-cow
killcow
like a cow on a flat rock
like a cow pissing on a flat rock
lolcow
mad cow disease
mad cow
mercow
milch cow
milk cow
moly cow
moo-cow
moo cow
nearly never bulled a cow
noncow
paddyfields crab
sacred cow
sea-cow
sea cow
spherical cow
springing cow
Steller's sea cow
supercow
technetium cow
the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it
till the cow come home
tuna crab
tune the old cow died of
uncowable
until the cows come home
werecow
why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free
worricow
yakow
Related terms: beef
bovine
bull
calf
cattle
heifer
low
moo
ox
steer
veal