the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it (English)
Where does "the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it" come from?
The English proverb the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it entered the language as a calque of the Jamaican Creole expression 'cow neva know di use a 'im tail till 'im lose it'[1][2]. The phrase literally means that a cow does not know what its tail is for until it has lost it[2], functioning as a synonym for the idea that you never miss the water till the well runs dry[1].
Full etymology tree
- the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it (English), 'Synonym of you never miss the water till the well runs dry.'
- calque cow neva know di use a 'im tail till 'im lose it (Jamaican Creole), 'you never miss the water till the well runs dry'
Ancestors
- cow neva know di use a 'im tail till 'im lose it (Jamaican Creole)
Sources
- the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it (English) - Wiktionary
- cow neva know di use a 'im tail till 'im lose it (Jamaican Creole) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris