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cow

cow

173 9.9
An insulting word for a woman seen as rude or unpleasant
  • noun
  • /kaʊ/
  • Slur
translation icon : vaca
  • She's being a proper cow right now.

I thought you miserable cow, my wife's just died in you.

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Examples

  • Betty was homely as a mud fence, stupid as a cow, and bigger than most of us guys.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Bramson approached me, saying, "Holy cow, you may as well get ready to spend the whole morning here."

    Academic text (1992)
  • Who would want to be married to a fat cow like you when he could marry a body like this?

  • My mom's having a cow about the bathroom.

  • I can't believe she called me a cow just because I disagreed with her.

  • Whenever someone mentions her name, people say she's such a cow for how she treats others.

  • During the meeting, she acted like a real cow, making it difficult for anyone to share their ideas.

Idioms

8 9.3

Get very upset or angry about something small

holy cow
  • Informal
8 7.6

A short phrase people say to show surprise or disbelief

don't be a cow
  • Offensive
9.9

To tell someone not to be difficult or mean

Compounds

mad cow disease
  • Specialized
18 3.8

A deadly disease of cows that damages the brain and can make people sick if they eat the meat

18 3.8

A business or product that gives steady high income with little work

sacred cow
  • Informal
6 6.5

A person, idea, or practice that people never criticize

5 1.5

A cow that is kept mainly to give milk

cow dung
  • NSFW
3 2.6

A solid waste that cows make and people use as fertilizer or fuel

3 2.0

A field of grass where cows eat

3 1.0

A cow kept to give milk for people to drink

3 7.3

A small town where people raise and sell cows

cow manure
  • NSFW
2 1.8

Dung from cows that people put on soil to help plants grow

cow pie
  • NSFW
2 8.2

A flat piece of cow poop left in a field

cow chip
  • NSFW
1 9.6

A flat dried piece of cow dung that people burn as fuel or throw in games

1 4.8

A large sea animal like a manatee that eats plants and moves slowly

1 1.2

A barn where cows are kept for shelter or milking

cow college
  • Offensive
1 9.1

A college that teaches farming and is often called low quality as an insult

1 8.8

A tall wild plant with thick stems and white or purple flower groups that can irritate your skin

1 1.6

A fenced area where farmers keep cows

1 7.5

A small, agile horse ridden to move cattle on a ranch

bell cow
  • Jargon
9.9

A person or thing that leads a group and shows the best example

cow brush
  • Specialized
5.5

A device with brushes that cows use to scratch and clean themselves

9.9

A small European annual plant with pale pink flowers that often grows as a weed in grain fields

9.1

A water plant with broad floating leaves and round yellow flowers that grows in quiet ponds

cow oak
  • US
9.4

A medium to large tree that grows in eastern United States with strong wood for baskets and chair seats

9.1

A tall plant with clusters of small white flowers that grows wild by roads and fields

8.1

A large shark with a broad head that has more than five gill slits

cow-nosed ray
  • Specialized
9.3

A large flat fish with a broad rounded head like a cow's nose

cow-orker
  • Informal
8.8

A way to call someone you work with as a joke

cow-tongue fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A fern with long flat pale green leaves that grows on trees or on the ground in warm places

9.9

A wild plant that grows in woods and meadows with small yellow flowers

ant cow
  • Specialized
9.9

A small insect that makes sweet drops for ants and ants protect it

milch cow
  • Archaic
6.3

A cow that a farmer keeps to give milk

moo-cow
  • Baby Talk
1.7

A child's word for a cow on a farm

spherical cow
  • Jargon
9.8

A very simple model that ignores real details to explain something, often as a joke

springing cow
  • Jargon
9.3

A cow close to giving birth

Steller's sea cow
  • Specialized
9.9

A very large extinct sea animal that lived near the Bering Sea

How Offensive

bitch
  • Offensive
9.0
cow
  • Slur
173 9.9
shrew
  • Slur
13 9.1
nag
  • Offensive
10 6.7

Surface Forms

cow singular
cows plural

Etymology

Cow used as an insult comes from comparing a person to the animal — a rude way to call someone 'unpleasant' or large — and a helpful way to remember it is to think of the rude comparison, which is why the word is offensive.