yowe

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ
• Homophones: yow, Yao

Etymology 1

From Middle English yowe, yeue, variant forms of ewe, from Old English eowu. Compare doublet ewe and Scots yowe.

Alternative forms

• yeo, yoe, yow

Noun

yowe (plural yowes)

1. (dialectal, UK, Scotland) A ewe; a female sheep.
   • 1902, James Thomson, Recollections of a Speyside parish:

     The ram was marked wi' keel at the reet o' the tail an' the yowes upon their hips.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

yowe

1. Obsolete spelling of you.

Anagrams

• yeow

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

yowe

1. alternative form of ewe

Etymology 2

Pronoun

yowe

1. (Late Middle English, Ireland, Norfolk, Yorkshire) alternative form of yow
   • 1440, Letter, in: 1841, Joseph Stevenson (editor), The Correspondence, Inventories, Account Rolls, and Law Proceedings of the Priory of Coldingham, page 116:

     Wirshipfull sir, I commend me to yowe; thankyng yowe of all tendirnesse and labour of lang time shewid to my brether and our cell of Coldyngham, prayand yowe of yowr goode continuance.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English ewe, from Old English eowu, from Proto-Germanic *awiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis (“sheep”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jʌu]

Noun

yowe (plural yowes)

1. ewe (female sheep)
   • 1794, Robert Burns, The Highland Widow's Lament:

     And there I had three score o' yowes, / Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! / Skipping on yon bonie knowes, / And casting woo' to me.

     And there I had three score of ewes (sixty), / Alas, alas, alack! / Skipping on the beautiful knolls yonder, / And providing wool for me.

Coordinate terms

• tuip (“ram”)

Derived terms

• fir-yowe (“fir cone”)
• great-yowe (“ewe in lamb”)
• yowie (diminutive)

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

yowe class V (plural mayowe class VI)

1. shout (a loud burst of voice)

   Acha kupiga mayowe

   Don't shout