cowhide
UK[ˈkaʊhaɪd]US[ˈkaʊhaɪd]
n
the skin of a cow, especially when made into leather.
n
a strong whip or strap made from this leather.
Morpheme Breakdown
cow
hide
cow
animal
hide
skin
Etymology
the word 'cowhide' is a transparent compound formed from two old english elements. 'cow' derives from proto-germanic 'kōz', which itself has a proto-indo-european origin in 'gʷṓws', meaning a bovine animal. 'hide' comes from proto-germanic 'hūdiz', tracing back to the pie root 'keu-', meaning 'to cover' or 'conceal', which semantically evolved to mean 'skin'. the compound logically and directly names the material sourced from the animal, with the modern term preserving the literal sense of its constituent parts, referring both to the raw skin and the products made from it.
Analysis
Structure: cow (animal) + hide (skin)
cow (from old english 'cū', meaning the bovine animal); hide (from old english 'hȳd', meaning the skin of an animal).
Examples
the old armchair was upholstered in genuine cowhide.
he used a strip of cowhide to repair the harness.
in some traditions, a cowhide was used as a form of punishment.