coward
Syllables: co·ward/ˈkaʊəd//ˈkaʊɚd/
coward noun: a person who lacks courage.
Noun
coward (plural cowards)
- A person who lacks courage.
- Near-synonyms: big baby, baby
- Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac...
- Synonyms:
- chicken, pullet, scaredy pants, yellowbelly, big baby, baby, bottler, caitiff, candy-ass, candy-arse
Adjective
coward (comparative more coward, superlative most coward)
- Cowardly.
- It is a coward and servile humour, for a man to disguise and hide himselfe under a maske, and not dare to shew himselfe as he is.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 4
- Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.
Verb
coward (third-person singular simple present cowards, present participle cowarding, simple past and past participle cowarded)
- To intimidate.
- The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]1820, John Chalkhill, Thealma and Clearchus
Proper noun capitalized: Coward
Coward
- A surname originating as an occupation.
coward meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
coward in Hindi
- a person who lacks courage
- कायर kāyar, डरपोक ḍarpok, बुज़दिल buzdil, बुजदिल bujdil
coward in Tamil
- கோழை, துணிவு இல்லாதவர், கோழையான, கால்களுக்கிடையில் வாலுள்ளதான, கோழையாக்கு
coward in Urdu
- a person who lacks courage
- بزدل buzdil, ڈرپوک ḍarpok
coward in Bengali
- কাপুরুষ
More languagesFewer languages
- coward in Telugu
- పిరికివాడు pirikivāḍu
- coward in Malayalam
- ഭീരു bhīru
- coward in Kannada
- ಪುಕ್ಕ, ಪೋಟ, ಅಂಜುಬುರುಕ, ಅಂಜುಗುಳಿ
- coward in Punjabi
- ਡਰਪੋਕ ḍarpok, ਗਾਂਡੂ gāṇḍū, ਗਿੱਦੜ giddaṛ, گدڑ giddaṛ
- coward in Gujarati
- ડરપોક, કાયર
- coward in Odia
- ଛେଳି cheḷi
- coward in Sanskrit
- सृगाल sṛgālá
- coward in Nepali
- कायर, डरपोक
- coward in Tagalog
- duwag
- coward in Arabic
- جَبَان jabān
- coward in Malay
- pengecut
- coward in Indonesian
- pengecut
- coward in Persian
- ترسو tarsu, نامرد nâmard, بزدل bozdel
- coward in Thai
- คนขี้ขลาด kon kîi-klàat, ขี้ขลาด kîi-klàat
- coward in Vietnamese
- người nhát gan, người nhút nhát
Examples of coward in a sentence
- Genuine cowards follow wicked people and cannot reliably sustain any virtue.
- Genuine cowards follow the wicked and cannot reliably sustain any virtue.
- The coward chose to take for the hills, rather than stand and fight.
Synonyms of coward
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of coward
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cowards |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more coward |
| superlative | most coward |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cowards |
| present participle | cowarding |
| past participle | cowarded |
| past | cowarded |
Origin of coward
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.
From Old English cūhierde (“cowherd”). Doublet of Cowherd and cowherd.
Words formed from coward
Questions about coward
- What does coward mean?
- Coward means a person who lacks courage.
- What is coward in Hindi?
- Coward in Hindi is कायर (kāyar), डरपोक (ḍarpok), बुज़दिल (buzdil). See Coward meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is coward?
- Coward can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce coward?
- Coward is pronounced /ˈkaʊəd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of coward?
- The plural of coward is cowards.
Words near coward in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: coward (page history and authors); Coward (page history and authors); coward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); coward (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); coward (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); گدڑ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); coward (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଛେଳି (Odia) (page history and authors); सृगाल (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); coward (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Cite this entry: “coward.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.