Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Coward |
CowardAdjective1. Lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted; "cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then"- P.B.Shelley. Noun1. A person who shows fear or timidity. 2. English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "coward" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | COWARD, n. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Coward (anciently written culvard) is either from the French, couard, originally written culvert, from culver (a pigeon), pigeon-livered being still a common expression for a coward; or else from the Latin, culum vertere, to turn tail (Spanish, cobarde; Portuguese, covarde; Italian, codardo, "a coward," Latin, cauda, "a tail"). A beast cowarded, in heraldry, is one drawn with its coue or tail between its legs. The allusion is to the practice of beasts, who sneak off in this manner when they are cowed. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Multilingual Slang | Bielorussian (scul' ), Catalan (cagacalces , cagueta), Dutch (watje), Macedonian (mrsulko ). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Coward, South Carolina."
Synonyms: CowardSynonyms: coward(a) (adj), cowardly (adj), fearful (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: brave (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cowardice | Verb: quail; (fear); be cowardly; Adjective:, be a coward; Noun: funk; cower,skulk, sneak; flinch, shy, fight shy, slink, turn tail; run away; (avoid); show, the white feather. |
Coward, poltroon, dastard, sneak, recreant; dunghill cock; coistril, milksop, white liver, lily liver, nidget, one that cannot say " bo" to a goose; slink; Bob Acres, Jerry Sneak. | |
Adjective: coward, cowardly; fearful, shy; timid, timorous; skittish; poor-spirited, spiritless, soft, effeminate. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Coward |
| English words defined with "coward": -art ♦ Coistril, craven ♦ dastard ♦ Fleeten face ♦ Nidget, Niding ♦ poltroon, portray, present ♦ recreant ♦ Scaramouch, Scaramouche. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "coward": Coystril ♦ Lie Direct ♦ Martano ♦ Panurge, Poltroon'. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "coward": Mammer. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Whining coward of a vampire that prowls the night killing rats and poodles; you could have finished us both (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice) You're such a coward, I can't believe they let you wear a uniform (A Few Good Men; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin) One is such a coward. (Englishman Abroad, An; writing credit: Alan Bennett) That dog's a coward. And I know cowards (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) This is not the end of it Optimal OptimusNo! The universe coward once at the name of Megatron and it shall do so again (Beast Wars: Transformers; writing credit: Bob Forward; Lawrence G. DiTillio) | |
Lyrics | Ev'ryone considered him the coward of the county (Coward of the County; performing artist: Kenny Rogers) No luv for my daddy, cause tha coward wuzn't there (Dear Mama; performing artist: 2Pac) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Gun for a Coward (1956) The Fighting Coward (1936) Branded a Coward (1935) The Coward (1927) Wanted: A Coward (1927) | |
Song Titles | Coward Of The County (performing artist: Kenny Rogers) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The man was a coward. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Noel Coward and Will Rogers. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Abraham Lincoln | To sin by silence when they should protest makes coward of men. |
Akhenaton | As the ostrich when pursued hideth his head, but forgetteth his body; so the fears of a coward expose him to danger. |
Euripides | Only a coward or a madman would give good for evil. |
Haliburton | A brave man is sometimes a desperado; but a bully is always a coward. |
Jean Paul Richter | A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterwards. |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | The coward threatens when he is safe. |
John Calvin | A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. |
Thomas Fuller | Despair gives courage to a coward. |
Thomas Jefferson | A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | I have no fear, I am no coward, that is known, but there is nothing more to be done, or otherwise they will make us dance |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Coward" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 54.03% of the time. "Coward" is used about 298 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 54.03% | 161 | 24,661 |
| Noun (proper) | 45.64% | 136 | 27,260 |
| Unclassified Items | 0.34% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 298 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "coward" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Coward | Last name | 3,000 | 4,030 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Coward, SC (town, FIPS 17215) |
Expressions using "coward": bully is always a coward ♦ moral coward ♦ Noel Coward ♦ show oneself a coward ♦ Sir Noel Pierce Coward. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "coward": coward-style. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "coward"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | frikacak (chicken heart, chicken hearted, cowardly, Craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-heart, faint-hearted, funk, milk-livered, poltroon, pusillanimous, recreant, scary, sneak, sneaking, white livered, yellow, yellowbellied, yellow-livered), burracak (milk-livered, poltroon, rat, recreant, slack). (various references) | |
Arabic | خائف (afraid, fearful, frightened), جبان (apprehensive, chicken, chicken heart, chicken hearted, cowardly, cur, faint, fearful, fearsome, funk, funky, heartless, lily livered, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, pusillanimous, scared, sheepish, shy, sissified, sissy, spiritless, timid, timorous, tremulous, unmanly, weak-kneed), الجبان (dastard, paver, recreant, sheep). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | страхливец (chicken, chicken-liver, dastard, faintheart, funk, yellow belly, yellow dog), страхлив (chicken, chickenhearted, cowardly, dastardly, fainthearted, fearful, funky, hen-hearted, milk-livered, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, recreant, sissy, spiritless), пикльо (bed-wetter, brat, milksop). (various references) | |
Chinese | 懦夫 . (various references) | |
Czech | zbabìlec (chicken, faint-heart, poltroon, turn back, turnback), bázlivec (mouse). (various references) | |
Dutch | lafaard (funk), bangerd (funk). (various references) | |
Esperanto | timemulo (funk), malkuraĝulo (funk). (various references) | |
Farsi | نامرد (Caitiff, Effeminate), ادم ترسو (Quitter), شخص جبون , بزدل (Pusillanimous, Timorous). (various references) | |
Finnish | raukka (dastard, poor, poor creature, poor fellow, poor thing), pelkuri, arkailija. (various references) | |
French | poltron (cowardly), peureux, lâche (cowardly), froussard (cowardly). (various references) | |
Frisian | leffert (funk). (various references) | |
German | Feigling (faintheart, poltroon, wimp), Angsthase (scaredy-cat, yellow belly). (various references) | |
Greek | άνανδροσ (cowardly, Craven, dastard, poltroon, recreant, unmanly), άτιμοσ (dishonest, ignominious, infamous, inglorious, knavish, rogue), δειλόσ (bashful, boggler, chicken, chicken hearted, dastardly, faint-hearted, fearful, lily livered, mealymouthed, pusillanimous, sheepish, shy, skittish, skulker, timid, timorous, weak-kneed, white livered, yellow). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מו' לב (chicken hearted, cur, lily livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, recreant, weakkneed), פח"ן. (various references) | |
Hungarian | gyáva (as timid as a rabbit, caitiff, chicken hearted, Craven, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, milquetoastish, recreant, timid, timorous, weak-spirited, yellow). (various references) | |
Indonesian | penggentar, pengecut (abject, dastard, faint, faint-hearted, poltroon, sneak, unmanly, white-livered), pencemas (pessimist), penakut (chicken, dastard, funk). (various references) | |
Italian | codardo (cowardly, Craven, dastard, funk, lily livered, recreant, weakling). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 腰抜け , 腑抜け (fool), 臆病者 , 恐がり (timidity), 怖がり (timidity), 懦弱 (cowardly, weak), 意気地なし (timid creature), 弱虫 (weakling), 弱虫 (weakling), 弱味噌 (weakling), 小心者 (timid person), 卑怯者 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おくびょうもの, しょうし"もの (timid person), ひきょうもの, ふぬけ (fool), いくじなし (timid creature), "しぬけ, "わがり (timidity), よわむし (weakling), よわみそ (weakling), じゃく (cowardly, effeminate, effete, enervated, weak). (various references) | |
Korean | 겁장이. (various references) | |
Manx | cowart, cloart, aggleydagh (cowardly, timid, timorous). (various references) | |
Norwegian | feiging. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | owardcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | covarde (caitiff, chicken-hearted, cowardly, craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, funky, lily-livered, milk-livered, milksop, pusillanimous, recreant, scaramouch, slag, sneaking, white-livered, yellow-livered), poltrão (chicken-hearted, poltroon, rabbity, scaramouch, trembler). (various references) | |
Romanian | laş (base-spirited, chicken hearted, cowardly, Craven, cur, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, hen-hearted, invertebrate, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, pigeon-hearted, poltroon, recreant, sneak, sneaky, unmanly, white livered, yellow), fricos (apprehensive, caitiff, chicken hearted, cowardly, Craven, cur, dastard, eerie, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, funky, hare-hearted, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, Patsi, pigeon-hearted, piker, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, shy, spiritless, timid, timorous, white livered, yellow). (various references) | |
Russian | робкий (bashful, chicken hearted, diffident, faint, gingerly, gutless, milquetoast, mousey, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, poor-spirited, shamefaced, sheep-faced, sheepish, shy, timid, timorous), трус трусливый (chicken-hearted), трус (caitiff, capon, chicken, chicken-liver, dastard, faintheart, faint-heart, funk, milksop, pikelet, piker, poltroon, rat, recreant, yellow dog). (various references) | |
Scottish | gealtair, bleideir. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | kukavica (chicken-liver, cuckoo, dastard, faintheart, gowk, recreant). (various references) | |
Spanish | cobarde (chicken hearted, cowardly, Craven, dastardly, faint-hearted, lily livered, pigeonhearted, piker, poltroon, quitter, recreant, timid, weak-kneed, weakling, yellow). (various references) | |
Swedish | stackare (pilgarlic, weed, worm, wretch), pultron (dastard, poltroon, recreant), kujon, feg (chicken, chickenhearted, cowardly, craven, dastardly, faint-hearted, lily livered, recreant, timid, white livered, yellow). (various references) | |
Thai | คนขี้ขลา" (fraid cat), ขี้ขลา" (chicken, chickenhearted, chicken-hearted, cowardly, faint-hearted, lily-livered, pusillanimous, tame). (various references) | |
Turkish | korkak (caitiff, chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cissy, cowardly, Craven, dastardly, dingo, faint, faintheart, fainthearted, fearful, funk, funky, gutless, hen-hearted, lily livered, milksop, milquetoast, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, rabbit, recreant, scary, sissy, skulking, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, spiritless, timid, unmanly, weak-spirited, white livered, yellow, yellow dog), ödlek kimse. (various references) | |
Turkmen | zьwwetdin, namart (cowardly). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | легкодухий (chicken hearted, cowardly, weak-kneed), боягуз (capon, chicken-liver, cur, niddering, piker, quitter, rabbit, recreant, sneak), боязкий (backward, bashful, dastard, dastardly, diffident, eerie, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, heartless, nervous, ovine, pavid, poor spirited, shamefaced, sheepish, spiritless, timid, timorous), полохливий (dastard, dastardly, funky, pavid, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, scarey, scary, shy). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | con vật nhát, nhút nhát; hèn nhát, nhát gan (chicken-hearted, chicken-livered, faint-hearted, milk-livered, poor-spirited, pusillanimous, white-livered), người nhút nhát (faint-heart, milquetoast), người nhát gan (faint-heart), người hèn nhát (caitiff, niddering, nidering, pudding-heart). (various references) | |
Welsh | llwfrgi, llwfrddyn, anwr (wretch), adwr (churl). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Italian | 900-Modern | poltrone. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | poltron. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "coward": cowardice, cowardices, cowardliness, cowardlinesses, cowardly, cowards. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "coward": becoward. (additional references) | |
Words containing "coward": becowarded, becowarding, becowards. (additional references) | |
| |
"Coward" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ceolwald, cewar, Chotard, chowgarh, Civardi, coard, conard, Coswarth, couard, cowar, cowark, cowerd, Cozart, Cunwald, Cvware, foward, Fozard, Goward. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "coward" (pronounced kou"erd) |
| 4 | k ou" er d | scoured. |
| 3 | -ou" er d | devoured, empowered, flowered, glowered, overpowered, powered, showered, soured, towered, underpowered. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-o-r-w" | |
-1 letter: crowd. | |
-2 letters: arco, card, coda, cord, craw, crow, draw, orad, orca, road, ward, woad, word. | |
-3 letters: ado, arc, cad, car, caw, cod, cor, cow, daw, doc, dor, dow, oar, oca, ora, orc, rad, raw, roc, rod, row, wad, war. | |
-4 letters: ad, ar, aw, do, od, or, ow, wo. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-o-r-w" | |
+1 letter: cowards. | |
+2 letters: becoward, cordwain, cowardly. | |
+3 letters: backsword, becowards, catchword, cedarwood, coastward, cordwains, cowardice, crackdown, watchword, woodcraft. | |
+4 letters: backswords, becowarded, caddisworm, catchwords, cedarwoods, coastwards, cordwainer, cowardices, crackdowns, crowbarred, lowercased, microwaved, outcrawled, watchwords, woodcarver, woodcrafts. | |
+5 letters: becowarding, caddisworms, candlepower, chowderhead, cordwainers, cordwainery, switchboard, woodcarvers, woodcarving. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Cities 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
