Sow - Wiktionary

See also: SOW, Sow, sów, and šow

Translingual

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Symbol

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sow

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Sowanda.

See also

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• Wiktionary’s coverage of Sowanda terms

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:sowWikipedia

Etymology 1

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From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-West Germanic *sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *su(H)kéh₂, from *suH- (“pig”).

See also West Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge; also Welsh hwch (“pig”), Sanskrit सूकर (sūkará, “swine, boar”); also Danish so, German Sau, Latin sūs, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Albanian thi, Avestan 𐬵𐬏 (hū, “boar”). See also swine. Doublet of soor.

Alternative forms

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• (dial.): zew, soo

Pronunciation

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• enPR: sou
• IPA(key): /saʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ
• Homophone: sough (one pronunciation)

Noun

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sow (plural sows or (archaic) swine)

1. A female pig.
2. A female bear, she-bear.
   • 1995, Dana Stabenow, Play with Fire, →ISBN, page 11:Lucky he wasn't a sow. They've usually just dropped a cub this time of year. A sow would have been cranky as hell.
3. A female guinea pig.
4. A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
5. A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
   • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160:In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.
6. (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
7. A sowbug.
8. (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.

Synonyms

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• (mass of metal solidified in a mold): ingot
• (contemptible woman): bitch, cow

Derived terms

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• brood sow
• bucksow
• drunk as a sow
• drunk as David's sow
• make a silk purse of a sow's ear
• niggersow
• sow stall
• sow thistle

Translations

[edit] female pig

Albanian: dosë (sq) f Arabic: خِنْزِيرَة f (ḵinzīra) Armenian: մերուն (hy) (merun), գոճամայր (hy) (gočamayr), խոզամայր (hy) (xozamayr) Aromanian: poarcã f Asturian: gocha (ast) Bashkir: инә сусҡа (inə susqa) Bats: ნეზვ (nezv) Bikol Central: dulag (bcl) Breton: gwiz (br) Bulgarian: свиня майка (svinja majka) Burmese: ဝက်မ (my) (wakma.) Catalan: truja (ca) f, porca (ca) f, verra (ca) f Chechen: жаргӏа (žarğa) Chinese: Cantonese: 豬乸 / 猪乸 (zyu1 naa2) Mandarin: 母豬 / 母猪 (zh) (mǔzhū) Czech: svině (cs) f, prasnice (cs), bachyně (cs) f Danish: so (da) c Dutch: zeug (nl) f Egyptian: (rrt f) Esperanto: porkino Estonian: emis (et) Farefare: kurkur-yã'aŋa Faroese: súgv f Finnish: emakko (fi), emäsika (fi) French: truie (fr) f Friulian: scrove f Galician: porca (gl) f, bodalla f, godalla f, golerpa f, barrionda f, ferruxe (gl) f, marrá (gl) f Georgian: ნეზვი (nezvi), ქუბი (kubi) German: Sau (de) f, Mutterschwein n Greek: γουρούνα (el) f (gouroúna), σκρόφα (el) f (skrófa) Ancient: δέλφαξ f (délphax) Hebrew: חֲזִירָה f Hungarian: koca (hu), nőstény disznó., emse (hu) Icelandic: sýr f Ido: porkino (io) Indonesian: babi betina Ingrian: emikko, imikkosika Ingush: жаргӏа (žarğa) Irish: cráin (ga) f Italian: scrofa (it) f, troia (it) f Japanese: 雌豚 (めぶた, mebuta) Kazakh: мегежін (megejın) Khiamniungan Naga: yōhnyù, yōhshùo Korean: 암퇘지 (ko) (amtwaeji) Latin: scrōfa f, porca (la) f Lithuanian: kiaulė (lt) f Low German: Söög f Macedonian: маторица f (matorica), прасица f (prasica) Malay: khinzir betina Maori: poaka uwha Middle High German: sū f Norwegian: Bokmål: purke (no) f or m, sugge f or m, hunngris m, hunnsvin n Nynorsk: purke f, purka f, sugge f, hogris m, hosvin n Occitan: truèja (oc) f, pòrca f Old English: sugu f Old High German: sū f Old Norse: sýr f Old Saxon: sū f Ossetian: дзӕргъ (ʒærǧ) (Iron), дзӕргъӕ (ʒærǧæ) (Digor) Persian: ماده خوک (mâde-xuk) Plautdietsch: Säaj f Polish: locha (pl) f, maciora (pl) f Portuguese: porca (pt) f Punjabi: ਸੂਰਨੀ (pa) f (sūrnī) Romanian: scroafă (ro), purcea (ro), (popular) poarcă (ro) Romansh: portga f Russian: свинья́ (ru) f (svinʹjá), свинома́тка (ru) f (svinomátka) Sardinian: cópia f, màdri f, súe f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: крмача f, прасица f Roman: krmača (sh) f, prasica (sh) f Sicilian: porca f, troja f, scrofa f Sinhalese: ඊරි (si) (īri) Slovak: sviňa (sk) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: rampa f Spanish: cerda (es) f, marrana (es) f, puerca f, Swedish: so (sv) c, sugga (sv) c Tagalog: inahing baboy Tarifit: tireft f Turkmen: mekejin Udi: нийал (nijal) Ukrainian: свиня́ f (svynjá), льо́ха f (lʹóxa) Venetan: lùja, lùgia f, scroa f, scrova f, vera f, mascia f, porseƚa f, roja f Vilamovian: zaoj f Volapük: jisvin (vo) Vurës: m̄al Welsh: cynar f, cunar f

female bear — see she-bear channel that conducts molten metal to molds

Finnish: valukouru Swedish: gjut (sv) n, gjutså c, ingjut (sv) n, ingjutningskanal c

mass of metal solidified in a mold

Finnish: valos (fi) Italian: lingotto (it) m, pane (it) m, panetto (it) m Russian: чушка (ru) f (čuška) Swedish: galt (sv) c, göt (sv) c, tacka (sv) c

contemptible woman

Czech: kráva (cs) Danish: so (da) c Finnish: narttu (fi), huora (fi) Greek: σκρόφα (el) f (skrófa) Macedonian: крава f (krava) Russian: скоти́на (ru) m or f (skotína) Swedish: subba (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked

Lithuanian: (please verify) kiaulė (lt) f Persian: (please verify) ماده‌خوک (mâdde-xuk)

See also

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• boar
• hog
• pig

Etymology 2

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From Middle English sowen, from Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-. Compare Dutch zaaien, German säen, Danish så, Norwegian Bokmål så.

Pronunciation

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• enPR: sou
• (UK) IPA(key): /səʊ/
• (US) IPA(key): /soʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophones: seau, sew, so, soe, soh

Verb

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sow (third-person singular simple present sows, present participle sowing, simple past sowed, past participle sown)

1. (ambitransitive) To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds). When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
2. (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate. (usu. negative connotation) As you sow, so shall you reap.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:8:Euen as I haue seene, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickednsse, reape the same.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
   • 1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 386:Not surprisingly, it has sown doubt among other operators of diesel-hydraulics; […].
   • 2024 January 25, Marin Scotten, “‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:‘Laying claim to nature’s work’: plant patents sow fear among small growers [title]
3. (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
   • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, […] and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:[He] sowd with Starrs the heav'n.
4. Obsolete spelling of sew.

Derived terms

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• as you sow, so shall you reap
• besow
• intersow
• oversow
• reap what one sows
• self-sown
• sow dragon's teeth
• sower
• sown
• sow one's oats
• sow one's wild oats
• sow the seeds of
• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
• sow wild oats

Translations

[edit] disperse seeds

Albanian: mbjell (sq) Arabic: زَرَعَ (ar) (zaraʕa), بَذَرَ (baḏara) Egyptian Arabic: زرع (zaraʕ) Armenian: ցանել (hy) (cʻanel) Aromanian: seamin Asturian: semar (ast), sementar Azerbaijani: səpmək (az), əkmək (az) Bashkir: сәсеү (səsew) Belarusian: се́яць (sjéjacʹ) Breton: hadañ (br) Bulgarian: се́я (bg) (séja) Catalan: sembrar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 播種 / 播种 (zh) (bōzhòng, bōzhǒng) Czech: sít (cs) Dutch: zaaien (nl) Esperanto: semi Estonian: külvama Finnish: kylvää (fi) French: semer (fr) Friulian: semenâ Galician: sementar (gl) Georgian: თესვა (tesva) German: säen (de) Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐌰𐌽 (saian) Greek: σπέρνω (el) (spérno) Ancient: σπείρω (speírō) Gujarati: વાવવું (vāvvũ) Hebrew: זָרַע (he) (zará') Hindi: बोना (hi) (bonā) Hungarian: vet (hu) Ido: semar (io) Ilocano: takong Indonesian: tabur (id) Irish: síol a chur, síolaigh Italian: seminare (it) Japanese: 種をまく (たねをまく, tane o maku) Korean: 심다 (ko) (simda), 뿌리다 (ko) (ppurida) Lao: ຫວ່ານ (huān) Latgalian: sēt, pasēt Latin: serō (la), conserō Latvian: sēt (lv) Lingala: kona Lithuanian: sėti Livonian: killõ Luxembourgish: séien Macedonian: се́е (sée) Maguindanao: pamula Malay: semai (ms) Maltese: żara’ Maori: rui Marathi: पेरणे (perṇe) Mirandese: sembrar, sumbrar Norman: s'maïr (Guernsey), s'mer (Jersey), s'menchi (Jersey) Norwegian: så (no) Occitan: semenar (oc) Old Church Slavonic: сѣти (sěti) Old English: sāwan Oromo: facaasuu Ottoman Turkish: اكمك (ekmek), تخملامق (tohumlamak) Pannonian Rusyn: шац impf (šac) Persian: کشتن (fa) (keštan), پراگندن (fa) (parāgandan) Polish: siać (pl) impf Portuguese: semear (pt) Quechua: tarpuy Romanian: semăna (ro) Romansch: semnar, samnar, samner Russian: се́ять (ru) impf (séjatʹ) Sardinian: semenai, semenare, seminai Scots: sawe Scottish Gaelic: sìol Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: се̏јати Roman: sȅjati (sh) Shan: ဝၢၼ်ႇ (shn) (wàan) Sicilian: chiantimari, siminari (scn) Slovak: siať Slovene: sejati (sl) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: seś impf Southern Altai: чачар (čačar) Spanish: sembrar (es), sementar (es) (rare) Swedish: så (sv) Telugu: విత్తు (te) (vittu) Thai: หว่าน (th) (wàan) Tocharian B: kät- Turkish: ekmek (tr) Ukrainian: сі́яти (síjaty) Unami: sehëmën Urdu: بونا (bonā) Vietnamese: gieo (vi) Welsh: hadu (cy) West Frisian: siedzje Yakut: ыс (ïs) Yiddish: זייען (zeyen) Záparo: achichanu Zazaki: karen Zhuang: vanq

spread about, propagate

Japanese: 間隙を生じる (kangeki wo shōjiru)

scatter

Japanese: 散らす (ja) (chirasu)

Anagrams

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• OSW, OWS, W.O.s, WOs, wos

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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sow

1. alternative form of sowe

Etymology 2

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Verb

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sow

1. alternative form of sowen (“to torment”)