Word.ws English Dictionary

coleslaw

UK/ˈkəʊlslɔː/US/ˈkoʊlslɔ/

coleslaw noun: a salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise (white slaw) or a vinaigrette (red slaw).

coleslaw: a salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise...
Image: CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

coleslaw (usually uncountable, plural coleslaws)

  1. (usually) A salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise (white slaw) or a vinaigrette (red slaw).
    Synonyms:
    slaw

Synonyms of coleslaw

Forms of coleslaw

pluralcoleslaws
alternative formcole slaw

Origin of coleslaw

Borrowed from Dutch koolsla (mentioned in English as the Dutch name by at least in 1794), from kool (“cabbage”) + sla (“salad”).

Words formed from coleslaw

Questions about coleslaw

What does coleslaw mean?
Coleslaw means a salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise (white slaw) or a vinaigrette (red slaw).
What part of speech is coleslaw?
Coleslaw is a noun.
How do you pronounce coleslaw?
Coleslaw is pronounced /ˈkəʊlslɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of coleslaw?
The plural of coleslaw is coleslaws.

Words near coleslaw in the dictionary

  1. coleseed
  2. coleseeds
  3. colesevelam
  4. Coleshill
  5. Coleshills
  6. coleslaw
  7. coleslaws
  8. Coleson
  9. Colesons
  10. colessee
  11. colessees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coleslaw (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:

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

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