cowslip n.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "ox, bull, cow," perhaps ultimately imitative of lowing; compare Sumerian gu, Chinese ngu, ngo "ox."

It forms all or part of: beef; Boeotian; Bosphorus; boustrophedon; bovine; bugle; Bucephalus; bucolic; buffalo; bugloss; bulimia; butane; butter; butyl; butyric; cow (n.); cowbell; cowboy; cowlick; cowslip; Euboea; Gurkha; hecatomb; kine.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gaus, Greek bous, Latin bos, Old Irish bo, Latvian guovs, Armenian gaus, Old English cu, German Kuh, Old Norse kyr, Slovak hovado "cow, ox."

In Germanic and Celtic, of females only; in most other languages, of either gender. For "cow" Latin uses bos femina or vacca, a separate word of unknown origin. Other "cow" words sometimes are from roots meaning "horn, horned," such as Lithuanian karvė, Old Church Slavonic krava.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to slide, slip." 

It forms all or part of: cowslip; lubric; lubricant; lubricate; lubricity; lubricous; sleeve; slip (n.3) "potter's clay;" sloop; slop (n.1) "semiliquid refuse;" slop (n.2) "loose outer garment;" sloven.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin lubricus "slippery, slimy, smooth," lubricare "make slippery or smooth;" Middle Dutch slupen "to glide;" Gothic sliupan "to creep, slide;" Old English slyppe "dung."