Word.ws English Dictionary

cowbell

/ˈkaʊˌbɛl/

cowbell noun: a bell worn by cows; sometimes with an ornate strap. Also the misconstruction of bell cow.

cowbell: a bell worn by cows; sometimes with an ornate strap
Image: R. Henrik Nilsson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cowbell (countable and uncountable, plural cowbells)

  1. A bell worn by cows; sometimes with an ornate strap.
  2. A musical instrument, typically found without a clapper.
    • This song would sound better with the addition of a cowbell.
    • It's good, but it really needs more cowbell.

Also used as

cowbell is also the misconstruction of bell cow.

Forms of cowbell

pluralcowbells
alternative formcow bell

Origin of cowbell

From cow + bell.

Words formed from cowbell

Questions about cowbell

What does cowbell mean?
Cowbell means a bell worn by cows; sometimes with an ornate strap.
What part of speech is cowbell?
Cowbell is a noun.
How do you pronounce cowbell?
Cowbell is pronounced /ˈkaʊˌbɛl/.
What is the plural of cowbell?
The plural of cowbell is cowbells.

Words near cowbell in the dictionary

  1. cowback
  2. cowbane
  3. cowbanes
  4. cowbarn
  5. cowbarns
  6. cowbell
  7. cowbellist
  8. cowbellists
  9. cowbells
  10. cowberries
  11. cowberry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cowbell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cowbell.wav.

Cite this entry: “cowbell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cowbell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.