How do you use the word "cow" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "cow": You cannot sell the cow and drink the milk. A cow is a useful animal.

Cow Meaning

/kaʊ/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

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

nounAny 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.

Sentence Examples

You cannot sell the cow and drink the milk.

A cow is a useful animal.

The cow grazed peacefully in the green pasture all afternoon.

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CEFR Practice Quiz

The farmer milked the ____ early in the morning every day.

Word Origin & History

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”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[…] 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." — 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:

"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." — 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:

"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." — 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2021:

"When I was a cow (junior) at West Point, I dated a plebe (freshman), which is considered fraternization in the cadet realm." — 2023, James E Parco, David A Levy, Daphne DePorres, Attitudes Aren't Free: A Call to Action, page 242:

"To vanquish a people already cowed." — 1711 September 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, September 11, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 167; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page Steele:

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