Mow

How to spell mow

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mow

What does mow mean?

1. verbTo cut down grass, lawn, or crops with a blade or machine.

Mow in a sentence

• He likes to mow the lawn early on Saturday mornings.

• The council pays a contractor to mow the verges along the road.

Where does mow come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Mow comes from the Old English verb mawan, meaning to cut down standing grass or grain with a blade. It belongs to a wide Germanic family, sharing roots with the Dutch maaien and the German mähen, all carrying the same idea of harvesting with a sweeping cut. The same ancient root also gave English the noun 'meadow', literally a piece of land that is mown, which is a useful link to remember. Over the centuries the spelling settled on the irregular 'ow' ending, the same pattern seen in 'sow' and 'tow', where the vowel is the long 'oh' sound rather than the 'ow' of 'cow'. By the time mechanical and motor mowers arrived, the verb was already centuries old and firmly fixed in everyday English.

How the word is built

• mow (single Old English root meaning to cut down grass or grain; no prefix or suffix)