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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

cord.

A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example).

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkɔːd/Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɔːd] ~ [ˈkʰo̞ːd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈkoːd/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard[ˈkʰoːd]Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard

  1. A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example).

    countable
    The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.

  2. Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.

    uncountable
    He looped some cord around his fingers.
    cord of spittle

  3. A small flexible electrical conductor composed of wires insulated separately or in bundles and assembled together usually with an outer cover; the electrical cord of a lamp, sweeper ((US) vacuum cleaner), or other appliance.

    countable · uncountable

  4. A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long. A quantity of firewood or cut logs.

    broadly · collective · countable · uncountable

  6. Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable

  7. Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.

    countable · uncountable
    spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords

  8. Dated form of chord.

    alt-of · countable · dated · uncountable

  9. Misspelling of chord, a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.

    alt-of · countable · misspelling · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”). Displaced native Old English sīma (“cord, rope”), sāl (“rope, cord, rein”), and sāda (“cord, halter, snare”). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia.

verb/ˈkɔːd/Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɔːd] ~ [ˈkʰo̞ːd]Received-Pronunciation/ˈkoːd/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard[ˈkʰoːd]Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard

  1. To furnish with cords.

  2. To tie or fasten with cords.

  3. To flatten a book during binding.

  4. To arrange (wood, etc.) in a pile for measurement by the cord.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”). Displaced native Old English sīma (“cord, rope”), sāl (“rope, cord, rein”), and sāda (“cord, halter, snare”). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.