Kaw
/kɔː/noun
A dialectal or Scots variant of “caw,” meaning the harsh cry of a crow or similar bird.
Did you know?Because “kaw” imitates a crow’s call, it belongs to a class of expressive sound-words historically associated with the bird’s reputation as an omen or messenger.
Etymological Timeline
Prehistoric expressive speech
Various
*kaw
“A reconstructed sound imitation of a harsh bird call; this form is suggestive rather than securely documented as a single ancestral word.”
Middle English
English
cawen
“To make the harsh cry of a crow or raven.”
15th–16th Century
English
caw
“The imitative verb and noun for a crow’s cry.”
Early Modern English
Scots/English
kaw
“A dialectal spelling variant representing the same harsh bird call.”
Modern English
English
kaw
“A chiefly dialectal or Scots variant of “caw.””