cower
/ˈkaʊɚ/verb
cower is spelled C-O-W-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, cower means “To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in cower?
| Letters | 5: C-O-W-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 49,949th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 cower?
Cower appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th 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 cower?
- US /ˈkaʊɚ/
- UK /ˈkaʊə/
Cower has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cower.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cower?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cower from its last stressed vowel (/aʊəɹ/):
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 cower
- cowers present, singular, he/she/it
- cowering participle, present
- cowered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cower mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.
- 2
archaicTo crouch in general.
- 3
To cause to cower; to frighten into submission.
- 4
To be a coward; to hide away or refuse to face opposition due to fear.
- 5
obsoleteTo cherish with care.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cower in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to crouch in fear:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | se recroqueviller, se tapir |
| German | kauern, ängstlich hocken |
| Portuguese | encolher |
| Spanish | acobardarse, amilanarse |
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 cower come from?
From Middle English couren, cowre, from Middle Low German kûren (“to lie in wait; linger”) or from North Germanic (Icelandic kúra (“to doze”)); according to Pokorny, all are ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to curve, bend”), see also Proto-Germanic *kuddô (“shell, pod”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).