sacred cow

English

Etymology

Originally American English (early 1900s), a reference to the elevated place of cows in Hinduism.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

sacred cow (plural sacred cows)

1. (idiomatic) Something which cannot be tampered with, or criticized, for fear of public outcry. A person, institution, belief system, etc. which, for no reason other than the demands of established social etiquette or popular opinion, should be accorded respect or reverence, and not touched, handled or examined too closely.
   • 1965 December, Phil Ochs, “That Was The Year That Weren't”, in Cavalier:

     Many sacred cows were milked dry in an unbelievable series of outrageous events.

   • 1967, Paul Krassner, The Realist, issue 74, May 1967, front page tagline:

     Irreverence is our only sacred cow.

   • 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 24:

     In my opinion, in order to save serious amounts of money, a number of 'sacred cows' will need slaying.

   • 2025 November 20, J. Oliver Conroy, “White nationalist Nick Fuentes is exposing a civil war among US Republicans: ‘We look like clowns’”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 December 2025:

     And he [Nick Fuentes] can attack what was until recently one of the right’s last true sacred cows: Israel.

Translations

something which cannot be tampered with

• Danish: hellig ko
• Finnish: pyhä lehmä
• French: monstre sacré (fr), vache sacrée (fr) f
• German: heilige Kuh f
• Greek: ιερή αγελάδα (el) (ierí ageláda)
• Hebrew: פרה קדושה (he) f (para kdosha)
• Hungarian: szent tehén
• Polish: święta krowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: vaca sagrada f
• Russian: свяще́нная коро́ва (ru) f (svjaščénnaja koróva)
• Spanish: vaca sagrada f
• Swedish: helig ko c

See also

• holy cow
• third rail
• totem

References

• “sacred cow”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.