What is the actual English name for the animal most people call a "cow"? A cow is a female mammal.?

Question

There are walrus cows, elephant cows, etc. Why are the animals typically used in North America for milk called cows? Is a female of that species called a "cow cow"?

Answer 1

I believe the English word is Cattle. The original species, now extinct, was called Auroch, I believe. Your reasoning should apply to chicken, as well, since I believe this word is derived from an old English (i.e. German) bastardization of the french word "le cocc", meaning "the rooster", with the old English/German pleural being the "coccen". Therefore the term "chicken" should not apply to the female form, i.e.hens, now should it?

Answer 2

The correct answer is a bovine. Just as a dog can be called a canine, or a cat a feline.

(It's not 'cattle', as that is a collective noun ... like 'people' ... so you can never say "a cattle".)

But what you may be asking is ... is there a "common" (and gender-neutral) name for a bovine ... just as dog and cat are "common" names for the animals more formally named canines and felines?

Checking dictionary.com:

cow, n.
1. The mature female of cattle of the genus Bos.
2. The mature female of other large animals, such as whales, elephants, or moose.
3. A domesticated bovine of either sex or any age.

So the answer (what is the common name of a bovine) to your question appears to be 3. (So it is correct to say that "a bull is a male cow." But it is not correct to say "a cow is a female bull.")
But it's also important that 1 and 2 give two *separate* definitions for the word "cow" as being a female bovine, and a female of other species.

In other words, the terms "cow", "bull", or "calf" can be used to refer to many different species, but it is generally clear when you are referring to a bovine, or a cetacean, a piniped, etc.

Answer 3

Last I checked most North Americans aren't drinking walrus or elephant milk. Thank god.
A individual bovine male is a bull, a bovine female is a cow, the young a calf, or even heifer (a young female that has not had a calf itself yet). The correct term to address a group of these animals would be 'cattle' or 'herd of cattle'. Redundant but it gets the point across.
Cow can be sued to describe the female only of the walrus, cattle or elephant.
Basically you are using 'cow' in the wrong context.

Answer 4

I don't know about English, since the English language is a bastardization of its earlier Germanic form, French and Lord knows what else.

There are several other terms: bovine, kine, cou, chattel (cattle, not refering specifically to the female of the species)

I imagine that early Britons used a dialect of the Gaelic and also used a word similar to "kine," or "kye" (plural), if not exactly the same.

I'm no expert in archaic languages, but that's my two cents on it.

P.S. - Otherwise you can specify by the breed of the bovine, or by the use of the bovine: "dairy cow" or "beef cow." *shrug* "Cow" is used as a word to describe the female of a large species of mammals, "calfs" the offspring and "bulls" the male. A female bovine is called a "heiffer" before she has calved for the second time.

Answer 5

Certainly not a topic to have a cow over.
The animal most English people call a "cow" is the same animal most American people call a "cow".
And if there's a whole bunch of them, they are called "cattle" (the animals not the English and Americans).

Answer 6

The female of the species is called a cow, the male version of the species is called a bull!

Answer 7

Latin name is Bos taurus. Cattle. Bovine. Most of the time if you say "cow" people know you're not talking about a cow elephant.

Answer 8

Well, I learned something today. I learned that my Angus cows are bosTauruses. (Thanks, Katy) As to your question, I suppose the reason they are referred to as simply "cows" is that it is the most common "cow" species around. Perhaps back before the West was settled, they may have had to specify whether they were talking about a buffalo or bos Taururses cow, but since there are so few bison around, we don't bother now.

Answer 9

Cows are female CATTLE. The species name is bovine. You only get milk from females cattle and they also reproduce and give birth to calves. The cattle we eat are mostly steers and heifer. Bulls are the males that are used for reproduction.

Also, cattle can be bos Taurus or bos indicus. Bos indicus are more heat tolerant breeds such as the Brahman and bos Taurus are European breeds such as Angus.

Answer 10

probably because we dont have walrusus and elephants roaming around in everyday life, so there is not delemma to call a cow, "cow." But the top part of your question was answered by several people already, so I won't go into it.