From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-West Germanic *sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, probably from Proto-Indo-European , from *suH-.

See also Western Frisian sûch, Dutch zeug, Low German Söög, German Sau, Swedish sugga, Norwegian sugge; also Welsh hwch, Sanskrit सूकर; also German Sau, Latin sūs, Tocharian B suwo, Ancient Greek ὗς, Albanian thi, Avestan 𐬵𐬏. See also swine. Doublet of soor.

• IPA: /saʊ/

sow (plural sows)

1. A female pig.
2. A female bear, she-bear.
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.

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

• French: truie
• German: Sau, Mutterschwein
• Italian: scrofa, troia
• Portuguese: porca
• Russian: свинья́
• Spanish: cerda, marrana, puerca,

• Italian: lingotto, pane, panetto
• Russian: чушка

• Russian: скоти́на

From Middle English sowen, from Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-.

• (British) IPA: /səʊ/
• (America) IPA: /soʊ/

sow (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.

   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.

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

• French: semer
• German: säen
• Italian: seminare
• Portuguese: semear
• Russian: се́ять
• Spanish: sembrar

• (of river) (British) IPA: /saʊ/

1. Surname.
2. A river in Staffordshire, England.

sow (plural sows)

1. (business) Initialism of statement of work
2. (military) Init of standoff weapon