coward

See also Coward

English

Etymology

From Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coe (“tail”) + -ard (“pejorative agent noun”); 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.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈkaʊəd/
• (US) IPA: /ˈkaʊɚd/
• Homophones: cowered

Noun

coward (plural cowards)

1. A person who lacks courage.
   • 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
• See also Wikisaurus:coward

Derived terms

• cowardly
• cowardice

Translations

a person who lacks courage

Arabic: جبان (ar) (jabaan) m. Bulgarian: страхливец (bg) m. Catalan: covard (ca) Chamicuro: s̈hamle'c̈homa Chinese: Mandarin: 懦夫 (cmn) (nuòfū) Czech: zbabělec (cs) m. Danish: bangebuks (da) c. Dutch: lafaard (nl) m. Estonian: argpüks (et) Finnish: pelkuri (fi) French: couard (fr) Georgian: მშიშარა (ka) (mšišara) German: Feigling (de) m., (colloquial) Angsthase (de) m., (slang) Schisser (de) m., Schisserin (de) f. Greek: δειλός (el) m., άνανδρος (el) m. Haitian Creole: kapon Hebrew: פחדן (he) (pakhdan) m., פחדנית (he) (pakhdanyt) f. Hindi: कायर (hi) (kāyar) Hungarian: gyáva (hu) Italian: codardo (it), pusillanime (it), vigliacco (it), vile (it)

Japanese: 臆病者 (ja) (おくびょうもの, okubyōmono) Kurdish: tirsok (ku), newêrek (ku), bêcesaret (ku), bêkulek (ku), tirsonek (ku), tirsoke (ku) Manx: aggleydagh (gv) Norwegian: Bokmål: feiging (nb) m., reddhare (nb) m. Nynorsk: feiging (nn) m., reddhare (nn) m. Persian: ترسو (fa), نامرد (fa) Polish: tchórz (pl) m. Portuguese: covarde (pt) Romanian: laș (ro) m., lașă (ro) f. Russian: трус (ru) (trus) m. Scottish Gaelic: cladhaire (gd) m., gealtaire (gd) m. Spanish: cobarde (es) m. and f. Swedish: fegis (sv), mes (sv) c. Vietnamese: người nhát gan (vi), người nhút nhát (vi) Volapük: (male or female) dredöfan (vo), (male) hidredöfan (vo), (female) jidredöfan (vo), (male or female, slang) dredajiedan (vo), (male, slang) dredahijiedan (vo), (female, slang) dredajijiedan (vo) West Frisian: fiich (fy), leffert (fy) c.