Moo
/muː/noun
The lowing sound made by a cow.
Did you know?English moo is an imitative word, but its exact shape is unusually stable across Germanic languages, showing how humans often preserve animal sounds almost like a ritual chant.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mū-
“An imitative base for the sound of a cow or lowing animal”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*mōn- / *mū-
“An inherited imitative cow sound”
Old English
English
mū
“A cow's lowing sound”
Middle English
English
mowen / mouwen
“To low like a cow”
Modern English
English
moo
“To make the sound of a cow”
Explore more surprising origins