We report the growth of CuO nanowires and the fabrication of crabwise CuO nanowires ethanol gas sensor on glass substrate. It was found that the crabwise interconnector of CuO nanowires could be grown by directly heating Cu film at 450 degrees C in the air. It also demonstrated that the resistance of the fabricated sensor changed upon ethanol gas injection. The sensor response increased with raising concentration of ethanol gas from 25 to 1000 ppm. Also, CuO nanowires tend to exhibit a higher response to ethanol gas with the increasing sensing temperature. (C) 2011 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3551505] All rights reserved.