cash cow

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cash cow

Where it comes from

An allusion to the dairy cow, who once acquired (and having given birth) may be milked on an ongoing basis. This same metaphor of the milk cow — a resource from which some other resource can be extracted repeatedly — also appears in the terms moly cow and lolcow.

noun cash cows

A product, service, or enterprise that generates ongoing, high net free cash flows. The managers of a cash cow are primarily responsible for the generation of cash, and they should in principle be willing to give cash away to those other businesses in the portfolio which need it most.
broadly Someone or something which is a dependable source of appreciable amounts of money. Hollinger International, the owner of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, claimed in the 175-page filing that its former chief executive had treated the company as his "cash cow".
Similar: moneymaker, money-spinner, golden goose, milch cow

Translations

Every language

noun something that generates free cash flow

Español	mina
中文	搖錢樹 /摇钱树 yáoqiánshù, 肥肉 féiròu, 肥羊 féiyáng
Français	vache à lait
Deutsch	Goldesel
Italiano	mucca da mungere
Русский	дойная коро́ва dojnaja koróva

noun someone or something which is a dependable source of appreciable amounts of money

Español	mina de oro
Français	vache à lait
Deutsch	Melkkuh, Milchkuh, Dukatenscheißer

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MLA

"cash cow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cash%20cow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cash cow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cash%20cow

Chicago

"cash cow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cash%20cow.

BibTeX

@misc{cash_cow_2026,
  title = {cash cow},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cash%20cow},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}