cowardy-cat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   informal, chiefly childish or dialectal: a timid or cowardly person, especially as a taunting form of address

   The children jeered, 'Cowardy-cat!' when Sam refused to enter the abandoned shed.

Formed playfully from cowardy, an extended form of coward with -y, and cat. It belongs to a family of children's taunts that also includes cowardy custard and scaredy-cat. Coward came through Old French coart, probably from coe ('tail') plus pejorative -ard, traditionally associated with turning tail or carrying the tail between the legs.

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