coal

/kɒl/UK/kəʊl/

coal noun: a black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

Image: Amcyrus2012, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

coal (countable and uncountable, plural coals)

(uncountable) A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
- The coal in this region was prized by ironmasters in centuries past, who mined it in the spots where the drainage methods of the day permitted.
- Coal-eaters they may have been, but a more willing or harder working Atlantic engine was never designed.1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, pages 3, 5
1. (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof, as a fuel commodity ready to buy and burn.
  - Put some coal on the fire.
  - Order some coal from the coalyard.
(countable) A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English)
- Put some coals on the fire.
(countable) A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
- hot coals
- glowing coals
Charcoal.
(Internet) Content of low quality.
- I'm so sick of seeing this coal online.
Antonyms:

gem
(slang) Bombs emitting black smoke on impact.
(obsolete, slang) Money.

Verb

coal (third-person singular simple present coals, present participle coaling, simple past and past participle coaled)

(intransitive) To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships or locomotives).
- shortly after that she coaled again at Simon's Bay; and that after remaining in the neighbourhood of our ports for a time, she proceeded to Mauritius, where she coaled again, and then returned to this colony.1863, Colonial Secretary to Commander Baldwin, USN
- Our next stopping-place was Newcastle, and here we coaled in earnest, for the steamer was flying light, and was loaded up in every available place.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 131
(transitive) To supply with coal.
- to coal a steamer
- January 1917, National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31 Number 1, One Hundred British Seaports
  Cruisers may be coaled at sea and provided with ammunition openly. The submarine may not
(intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
- After the initial burn the goal of any good fire should be coaling; that is, creating a bed of solid coals that will sustain the fire.2014, Ken Mudge, Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods
- As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits.1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 18
(transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
- Char-coal of roots, coaled into great pieces.1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History
(transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.
- […] marvailing, he coaled out these rithms upon the wall near to the picture1551, William Camden, Remains concerning Britain

Adjective

coal (no comparative, superlative (rare) coalest)

(no-comparative) Black like coal; coal-black.
- ... his coal hair / the corners of his warm smile / the blue of his gentle eyes. I wanted to explore him as Sir Francis Drake explored the New World. I wanted to tell my secrets to him as a Roman Catholic does in confession.2004, Terence Kingsley-Smith, Terry Kingsley-Smith, Thorp Green: A Tale of the Brontës
- His coal hair streaked through the gushing of freezing air and the base of the silk robe fluttered splendidly. The Lord of Blood, adorned with glossy armor and atop a stalwart steed, appeared to have the opulence of a king. White hills[…]2010, Rhett C. Bruno, Isinda: Fallen Dagger, Tate Publishing, →ISBN, page 126

Proper noun capitalized: Coal

Coal

An unincorporated community in Henry County, Missouri, United States, named after early settler Stephen Coale.
An unincorporated community and coal town in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States.
Four townships in the United States, in Missouri, Ohio (2), and Pennsylvania, listed under Coal Township.

coal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

coal in Hindi

uncountable: carbon rock: कोयला koylā

coal in Tamil

uncountable: carbon rock: நிலக்கரி nilakkari

coal in Marathi

uncountable: carbon rock: कोळसा koḷsā
countable: carbon rock: कोळसा koḷsā

coal in Urdu

uncountable: carbon rock: کوئِلا koilā
countable: carbon rock: زُغال zuġāl, اَن٘گِشْت aṅgiśt

More languagesFewer languages

coal in Bengali: কয়লা koẏla
coal in Telugu: బొగ్గు boggu
coal in Malayalam: കൽക്കരി kalkkari
coal in Kannada: ಕಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಲು kalliddalu, ಇದ್ದಲು iddalu, ಇಜ್ಜಿಲು ijjilu
coal in Punjabi: ਕੋਲਾ kolā
coal in Gujarati: કોયલો koyalo
coal in Odia: କୋଇଲା koilā
coal in Sanskrit: अंगारः aṃgāraḥ
coal in Sinhala: ගල්අතුරු galaturu
coal in Assamese: কয়লা koyola
coal in Nepali: कोइला koilā
coal in Pashto: ذغال zǧāl
coal in Tagalog: uling
coal in Arabic: فَحْم حَجَرِيّ faḥm ḥajariyy, فَحْم faḥm, فحم faḥm, فَحَم faḥam
coal in Malay: arang batu
coal in Indonesian: batu bara, kol
coal in Persian: ذُغالسَنْگ zoġâl-sang, ذُغال zoġâl, زُغال zoġâl, اَنْگِشْت angešt
coal in Thai: ถ่านหิน tàan-hǐn
coal in Vietnamese: than đá
coal in Myanmar: ကျောက်မီးသွေး kyaukmi:swe:

Examples of coal in a sentence

Just as the campfire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.
A red glare came from an outward-bound steamer that was coaling.1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray:
N.W.R. four-cylinder 4-6-2 class "XS1," No. 761, coaling at Delhi junction.1949 November and December, Railway Magazine, page 371 (photo caption):
He had to coal and light up the engine, as well as clean it, for the next day's work, which commenced with a light run to Barnham to "bring in the goods" from that station at about 6.30 a.m.1952 February, J. Pelham Maitland, “Locomotive Working on Sussex Branches Fifty Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 84:
The cat had black ears nestled in his coal hair and a purple mask over his violet eyes.2011, C. C. W. Henderson, Blue Heron and Pizzazz, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 99:

All 40 example sentences with coal

Antonyms of coal

Forms of coal

Noun
plural	coals
alternative form (obsolete)	cole
alternative form (obsolete)	coale
alternative form (obsolete)	colle
alternative form (obsolete)	coole
alternative form (obsolete)	coell
alternative form (obsolete)	coile
Verb
third-person singular present	coals
present participle	coaling
past participle	coaled
past	coaled
Adjective
superlative (rare)	coalest

Plural of coal: coals

Origin of coal

From Middle English col, from Old English col, from Proto-West Germanic *kol, from Proto-Germanic *kulą (“coal”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵwelH- (“to burn, shine”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian kööl (“coal”), Saterland Frisian Koole (“coal”), West Frisian koal (“coal”), Cimbrian kholl (“coal”), Dutch kool (“coal; carbon”), German Kohle (“coal”), Limburgish Kǫe̩l (“coal”), Luxembourgish Kuel (“coal”), Vilamovian köła (“coal”), Yiddish קויל (koyl, “coal”), Danish kul (“coal”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kol (“coal; carbon”), Jamtish kuł (“coal; carbon”), Norwegian Bokmål kol, kull (“coal”). Compare Irish and Scottish Gaelic gual (“coal”), Manx geayl (“coal”), Lithuanian žvi̇̀lti (“to glow, twinkle”), Persian زکال (zakâl), زکار (zekâr), زغال (zoġâl, “coal”), Tocharian B śoliye (“hearth”), Sanskrit ज्वल् (jval, “to burn, glow”), all from the same root.

Words formed from coal

Phrases with coal

90 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with coal

47 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about coal

What does coal mean?: Coal means a black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
What is coal in Hindi?: Coal in Hindi is कोयला (koylā). See Coal meaning in Hindi.
How do you use coal in a sentence?: Just as the campfire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.
What part of speech is coal?: Coal can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce coal?: Coal is pronounced /kəʊl/ (UK).
What is the plural of coal?: The plural of coal is coals.

Words near coal in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: coal (page history and authors); Coal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-coal.ogg.

Cite this entry: “coal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.