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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

coward.

A person who lacks courage.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkaʊəd/UK/ˈkaʊɚd/US/ˈkawə(ɾ)d/South-Asia
  1. A person who lacks courage.

Where this word comes from

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.

adj/ˈkaʊəd/UK/ˈkaʊɚd/US/ˈkawə(ɾ)d/South-Asia
  1. Cowardly.

  2. Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.

Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈkaʊəd/UK/ˈkaʊɚd/US/ˈkawə(ɾ)d/South-Asia
  1. To intimidate.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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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.