Where does “cow” come from?

Cow comes from Old Norse kúga, Old English cū, Proto-Germanic kūz, and Proto-Indo-European gʷṓws, the root for bovine animals.

cow (English): An adult female of the species "Bos taurus",...

Definitions

  1. An adult female of the species "Bos taurus",...

Ancestry of “cow”, step by step

cow traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle English cow

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishcowAlternative form of cou
2Old Englishcūcow
3Proto-West Germanic*kōcow
4Proto-Germanic*kōzcow

via Old Norse kúga

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Norsekúgato cow, to force, to tyrannize over

Words derived from “cow”

Every word from Proto-Germanic *kōz →Every word from Proto-West Germanic *kō →Every word from Old English cū →