coward

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkaʊɚd/ UK /ˈkaʊəd/ See IPA manual

noun adj verb name Freq #2815

Meanings

1

noun
A person who is too afraid to do what is difficult or dangerous.

Everyone called him a coward for running away from the fight.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who is too afraid... chicken

Opposites

hero

Word family

Forms cowards

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. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh). Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin.

*kewh₂- Proto-Indo-European coward Middle English coart Old French cauda Latin

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Topics

People & Society

# coward

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj, verb, name
**IPA (US):** ˈkaʊɚd
**IPA (UK):** ˈkaʊəd
**Frequency rank:** 2815

## Meanings
1. A person who is too afraid to do what is difficult or dangerous.

## Examples
- Everyone called him a coward for running away from the fight.

## Antonyms
- hero

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kewh₂-
- Root: coward
- Root: coart
- Root: cauda

## 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. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh). Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin.

## AI Etymology
coward comes 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. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh). Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin. The current sense is A person who is too afraid to do what is difficult or dangerous.

## Topics
- People & Society

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coward

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