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cow

/kaʊ/noun, verb

cow is spelled C-O-W: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cow means “An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cow is cows or cattle; Wiktionary also lists kye (archaic).

How many letters and syllables are in cow?

Letters3: C-O-W
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,679th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is cow?

Cow appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cow?

  • US /kaʊ/
  • US [kʰæʊː]
  • /kuː/

Cow has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-a_cow.ogg, En-us-cow.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cow?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cow from its last stressed vowel (/aʊ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of cow

  • cows plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cattle plural
  • kine plural
  • cowing participle, present
  • cowed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cow mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.

    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.

  2. 2

    informalAny 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.

    We saw lots of cows at the farm show, including some surprisingly gigantic bulls.

  3. 3

    Beef: the meat of cattle as food.

    The only meat I eat is cow.

  4. 4

    Any bovines or bovids generally, including yaks, buffalo, etc.

  5. 5

    A female member of other large species of mammal, including the bovines, moose, whales, seals, hippos, rhinos, manatees, and elephants.

  6. 6

    IrelandUKderogatoryinformalA woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.

  7. 7

    A chock: a wedge or brake used to stop a machine or car.

  8. 8

    USslangA third-year cadet at West Point.

    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 corpo

  9. 9

    UKA chimney cowl.

  10. 10

    LFBOT: Synonym of luminous fast blue optical transient.

verb

  1. 1

    To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of.

    Con artists are not cowed by the law.

noun

as COW
  1. 1

    Acronym of copy-on-write.

  2. 2

    Acronym of chief of watch.

noun

as CoW
  1. 1

    Initialism of clerk of works.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvache (adult female of species Bos taurus), bovin (any domestic bovine regardless of sex or age), femelle (female of various large species of mammal), garce (derogatory: despicable woman)
GermanKuh, Chue (adult female of species Bos taurus), Rind (any domestic bovine regardless of sex or age)
Portuguesevaca (adult female of species Bos taurus), bovino, bovídeo (any domestic bovine regardless of sex or age), bruxa (derogatory: despicable woman)
Spanishvaca (adult female of species Bos taurus), bovino (any domestic bovine regardless of sex or age), bruja (derogatory: despicable woman), intimidar (to intimidate – see also intimidate, daunt)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cow come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cow