coward

See also: Coward

English

Etymology

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda.

The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Unrelated to English cower. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: kou'əd, IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊəd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: kou'ərd, IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊɚd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: co‧ward
• Homophone: cowered

Noun

coward (plural cowards)

1. A person who lacks courage.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene ii, page 117, column 1:

     Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]

   • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part II Chapter IV, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

     He tortured himself to find out how he could make his declaration to her, and always halting between the fear of displeasing her and the shame of being such a coward, he wept with discouragement and desire. Then he took energetic resolutions, wrote letters that he tore up, put it off to times that he again deferred.

Synonyms

• chicken
• scaredy pants
• yellowbelly
• baby
• big baby
• See also Thesaurus:coward

Derived terms

• cowardess
• cowardice
• cowardish
• cowardize
• cowardly
• cowardness
• cowardry
• cowardship
• cowardy
• God hates a coward

Translations

a person who lacks courage

• Afrikaans: lafaard, papbroek
• Albanian: frikacak (sq) m
• Arabic: جَبَان (ar) m (jabān)
• Armenian: վախկոտ (hy) (vaxkot), ղզիկ (hy) (ġzik)
• Azerbaijani: qorxaq (az)
• Bashkir: ҡурҡаҡ (qurqaq)
• Basque: koldar
• Belarusian: баязлі́вец m (bajazlívjec), баязлі́ўка f (bajazlíŭka), палахлі́вец m (palaxlívjec), палахлі́ўка f (palaxlíŭka)
• Bulgarian: страхли́вец (bg) m (strahlívec), страхли́вка f (strahlívka)
• Catalan: covard (ca)
• Cebuano: talawan
• Chakma: 𑄛𑄘𑄢 (pādārā)
• Chamicuro: s̈hamle'c̈homa
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懦夫 (zh) (nuòfū), 孬種 / 孬种 (zh) (nāozhǒng), 孱頭 / 孱头 (zh) (càntou), 膽小鬼 / 胆小鬼 (zh) (dǎnxiǎoguǐ), 軟骨頭 / 软骨头 (zh)

• Chukchi: айыԓгыԓьын (ajyḷgyḷʹyn)
• Crimean Tatar: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: zbabělec (cs) m, zbabělkyně f, bázlivec (cs) m, posera (cs) m (vulgar)
• Danish: bangebuks c, kujon c, kryster c
• Dutch: lafaard (nl) m, slapjanus (nl), watje (nl)
• Erzya: тандаль (tandaľ)
• Esperanto: malkuraĝulo, timemulo, timulo, poltrono
• Estonian: argpüks (et)
• Faroese: bloyta f, ræðuskítur m, rædduskítur m, bløka f, ónytta f
• Finnish: pelkuri (fi)
• French: couard (fr) m, couarde (fr) f, poltron (fr) m, poltronne (fr) f, froussard (fr) m, froussarde (fr) f, lâche (fr)
• Galician: covarde (gl), cagainas (gl)
• Georgian: მშიშარა (mšišara), მხდალი (mxdali), ლაჩარი (lačari), ჯაბანი (ǯabani), ქვეშაჯვია (kvešaǯvia)
• German: Feigling (de) m, (colloquial) Angsthase (de) m, (slang) Schisser (de) m, Schisserin (de) f, Hosenscheißer (de) m (colloquial), Warmduscher (de) m (colloquial)
• Greek: δειλός (el) m (deilós), άνανδρος (el) m (ánandros), κότα (el) f (kóta), φοβιτσιάρης (el) m (fovitsiáris), κιοτής (el) m (kiotís), φοβητσιάρης (el) m (fovitsiáris)

  Ancient: δειλός m (deilós), δειλή f (deilḗ)

• Haitian Creole: kapon
• Hebrew: פַּחְדָן (he) m (paḥdán), פחדנית f (paḥhdaníyt), מוּג לֵב (he) m (mug lev)
• Hindi: कायर (hi) (kāyar), डरपोक (hi) m (ḍarpok), बुज़दिल m (buzdil), बुजदिल (hi) m (bujdil)
• Hungarian: gyáva (alak) (it is an adjective so it rarely stands alone in the sense of a noun)
• Icelandic: bleyða (is) f
• Ido: poltrono (io), deskurajozo (io)
• Ilocano: natakrot
• Indonesian: pengecut (id)
• Irish: cladhaire m
• Italian: codardo (it), pusillanime (it), vigliacco (it), vile (it), coniglio (it) m
• Ivatan: matahaw
• Japanese: 臆病者 (ja) (おくびょうもの, okubyōmono), 怖がり (ja) (こわがり, kowagari), 怖がり屋 (こわがりや, kowagariya), 腰抜け (ja) (こしぬけ, koshinuke), 弱虫 (ja) (よわむし, yowamushi), 卑怯者 (ひきょうもの, hikyōmono)
• Kapampangan: bayugin, galgawu, mataloti
• Kazakh: қорқақ (kk) (qorqaq)
• Khmer: អ្នកកំសាក (nĕək kɑmsaak), កំសាក (km) (kɑmsaak)
• Korean: 겁쟁이 (ko) (geopjaeng'i), 비겁자(卑怯者) (bigeopja), 겁꾸러기 (geopkkureogi), 겁보 (geopbo), 겁부(怯夫) (geopbu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tirsok (ku), newêrek (ku), bêcesaret (ku), bêkulek (ku), tirsonek (ku), tirsoke (ku)

• Kyrgyz: коркок (ky) (korkok)
• Lao: ຄົນຕາຂາວ (khon tā khāo), ຄົນຂີ້ຢ້ານ (khon khī yān)
• Latvian: gļēvulis m, gļēvule f
• Lithuanian: bailys m
• Luxembourgish: Feigling
• Macedonian: кука́вица m or f (kukávica), страшливец m (strašlivec)
• Malagasy: fananga (mg)
• Malay: pengecut
• Malayalam: ഭീരു (ml) (bhīru)
• Manx: aggleydagh
• Maori: tautauhea, tautauwhea, tautauā, whiore hume, hukehuke, hamo pango, poromataku
• Maranao: talaw
• Middle English: coward
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аймхай хүн (ajmxaj xün), хулчгар хүн (xulčgar xün)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: feiging (no) m, reddhare m

  Nynorsk: feiging m, reddhare m

• Occitan: coard (oc)
• Old English: earg
• Persian: ترسو (fa) (tarsu), نامرد (fa) (nâmard), بزدل (fa) (bozdel)
• Plautdietsch: Schietstremp f
• Polish: tchórz (pl) m, strachajło n, bojaźliwiec m
• Portuguese: covarde (pt)
• Romanian: laș (ro) m, lașă (ro) f
• Russian: трус (ru) m (trus), труси́ха (ru) f (trusíxa), трусишка (ru) m or f (trusiška) (mild), ссыку́н (ru) m (ssykún) (vulgar), бздун (ru) m (bzdun) (vulgar), ссыкло́ (ru) n (ssykló) (vulgar), боя́ка (ru) m or f (bojáka) (childish), боягу́з (ru) m (bojagúz) (regional, Ukraine), боягу́зка (ru) f (bojagúzka) (regional, Ukraine)
• Scottish Gaelic: cladhaire m, gealtaire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ку̏кавица m or f

  Roman: kȕkavica (sh) m or f

• Shan: ၵူၼ်းၶီႈယၢၼ်ႈ (kúun khīi yāan)
• Shor: қортуқ (qortuq)
• Slovak: zbabelec m, zbabelkyňa f, bojazlivec m, ustrašenec m
• Slovene: strahopetnež (sl) m, strahopetnica f
• Southern Altai: коркунчаак (korkunčaak)
• Spanish: cobarde (es) m or f, gallina (es) f
• Swahili: mwoga (sw)
• Swedish: fegis (sv), mes (sv) c
• Tagalog: duwag (tl)
• Tajik: тарсу (tarsu), тарсончак (tg) (tarsončak), номард (nomard), буздил (buzdil)
• Tatar: куркак (qurkak)
• Telugu: పిరికివాడు (te) (pirikivāḍu)
• Thai: คนขี้ขลาด (kon kîi-klàat), ขี้ขลาด (th) (kîi-klàat) (adjective)
• Turkish: korkak (tr), ödlek (tr), tabansız (tr)
• Ukrainian: боягу́з (uk) m (bojahúz), боягу́зка (uk) f (bojahúzka), страхополо́х m (straxopolóx)
• Uyghur: قورقۇنچاق (qorqunchaq)
• Uzbek: qoʻrqoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: người nhát gan (vi), người nhút nhát (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) dredöfan (vo), (♂) hidredöfan, (♀) jidredöfan, (♂♀, slang) dredajiedan, (♂, slang) dredahijiedan, (♀, slang) dredajijiedan
• Welsh: cachadur m, cachgi (cy) m, cachwr m, llwfrgi m, llyfrgi m, cilgi m
• West Frisian: fiich, leffert c
• Yiddish: פּחדן m (pakhdn), פּחדנטע f (pakhdnte), טרוס m (trus)

Adjective

coward (comparative more coward, superlative most coward)

A lion coward.

1. Cowardly.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     It is a coward and servile humour, for a man to disguise and hide himselfe under a maske, and not dare to shew himselfe as he is.

   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 4,^[1]

     He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon”, in Poems on Several Occasions‎^[2], 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson, page 89:

     Invading Fears repel my Coward Joy;
     And Ills foreseen the pleasant Bliss destroy.

2. (heraldry, of a lion) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.

Verb

coward (third-person singular simple present cowards, present participle cowarding, simple past and past participle cowarded)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To intimidate.
   • 1820, John Chalkhill, Thealma and Clearchus:

     The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]

References

• Coward in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French coart; equivalent to Old French coe (“tail”) +‎ -ard. Compare taylarde.

Alternative forms

• couard, couward, cowart, cowerde, coword, cuward, kowarde

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːard/, /ˈkɔu̯ard/

Noun

coward

1. coward, knave
2. (rare) idiot, simpleton

Related terms

• cowardie
• cowardise
• cowardly
• cowardnesse

Descendants

• English: coward
• Scots: cooart, coort

References

• “cǒuard, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adjective

coward

1. cowardly
2. (rare) stupid

Descendants

• English: coward

References

• “cǒuard, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

coward

1. alternative form of couherde