COW in sign language

A cow is a farm animal, typically domesticated, making a mooing sound and producing milk.

ASL signs for COW

How do you say 'cow' in American Sign Language? Moo, kidding. Here it is.

Meaning: A fully grown female animal of a domesticated breed of ox, used as a source of milk or beef.

Pronunciation (sign description): Both "Y" hands with thumbs in contact with temples of head with palms down. The "Y" hands move or twist upward at the wrist while the thumbs stay in place. The movement of the hands can be once (slightly long movement) or twice (briskly short movement).

The two-handed version of the sign is used as a formal citation when teaching hearing ASL students or doing storytelling with ASL-speaking or deaf children.

Used in everyday conversations; informal register. The movement of the hand can be once or repeated twice.

Vocabulary

Related signs: What is your first association of cow? MILK.

Other signs of a farmer's friends: SHEEP, GOAT, CHICKEN, DUCK, PIG, HORSE. No farm is without a DOG or a CAT or even a field MOUSE.

Written ASL

[Note: ASL writing is not an official standard. This sign language writing remains in a state of open space to allow room for experiment, evolution, and improvement.]

ASL written for COW

The top part shows two "Y" handshapes between the curved line which represents the forehead. Two dots indicate a location of where the hands touch. The digit what looks like a quotation mark means two movements of the hands. The bottom line depicts a front face with the 'oo' mouth morpheme and the fingerspelled word "moo" moving forward (the bottom line with an end dot).

ASL digit written contributed by Adrean Clark in the ASLwrite community, 2017.

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