# bow

> English word · Noun · IPA /bəʊ/ · frequency rank #4,287

## Definitions
1. A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
2. A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
3. A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
4. A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
5. A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
6. Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
7. The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
8. Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
9. Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
10. A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
11. Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
12. The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
13. Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.

## Etymology
From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German Bogen (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Luxembourgish Bou (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Vilamovian böga (“arc, arch, bend, bow, curve”), Yiddish בויגן (boygn, “arc, arch, bow, curve”), Danish bue (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Faroese, Icelandic bogi (“arch, bow, vault”), Jamtish buga (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål bue (“arc, arch, bow”), Norwegian Nynorsk boge (“arc, arch, bow”), Swedish båge (“bow”), Crimean Gothic boga (“bow”).

## Easily confused with
- **by** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-by)
- **BS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bs)
- **br** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-br)
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bt)
- **BP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bp)
- **BW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bw)
- **BX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bx)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-buy)
- **boy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-boy)
- **box** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-box)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bus)
- **bro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bro)
- **bye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bye)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bug)
- **bud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bud)
- **BTW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-btw)
- **bra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bra)
- **bum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bum)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bow-vs-bun)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bow