Meaning & use
baby cow
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A young cow; a calf, especially one that is still with its mother.
Grammar: Countable, so it takes 'a' and a plural: a baby cow, two baby cows.
Patterns
- a baby cow
- baby cows
The farmer showed us a baby cow that had been born that morning.
Baby cows stay close to their mothers in the field.
She bottle-fed the baby cow when its mother could not produce enough milk.
nouncountable
A young animal of another large cattle-like species, such as a buffalo or moose.
Grammar: Used the same way as sense 1, but the species is usually named nearby.
Patterns
- a baby cow moose
- a baby cow buffalo
We saw a baby cow moose following its mother through the shallow water.
The reserve protects baby cow buffalo as well as adults.
Word forms
| plural | baby cows |
|---|
Common combinations
- feed a baby cow
- Volunteers feed each baby cow twice a day.
- a newborn baby cow
- A newborn baby cow can stand within an hour.
- raise baby cows
- They raise baby cows on this farm until they are old enough to graze.
- a baby cow's mother
- Keep the baby cow's mother nearby so it stays calm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- calf
- The standard word in farming and biology; use 'calf' in technical or agricultural writing, and 'baby cow' in everyday speech, especially with children.
- young cattle
- A collective, more formal way to talk about calves as a group; it does not refer to one animal.
Opposites
Word family
- cow noun
- The adult female of cattle.
- cattle noun
- Cows and bulls kept as a group on a farm.
Commonly confused: baby cow or calf?
baby cow vs calf
'Calf' is the usual word for a baby cow and also means the back part of your lower leg; 'baby cow' only means the animal.
Practice
Which sentence uses the plural correctly?
Choose one answer.
In this phrase the plural ending goes on the noun 'cow', giving 'baby cows'. Option 2 leaves the noun singular, and options 3 and 4 add endings in the wrong place or with the wrong spelling.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “baby cow”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.