coward means cowardly.
coward is pronounced /ˈkaʊəd/.
Why “coward” is a great word
A person who lacks courage, especially one who shrinks from danger or difficulty. The word descends from Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard, a compound of coue (“tail,” from Latin cauda) and the pejorative agent suffix -ard, picturing an animal with its tail between its legs; it entered English in the mid-13th century as a portrait of retreat. Unlike “craven,” which suggests an abject and contemptible spirit of defeat, or “hero,” its direct and noble antithesis, “coward” describes the specific, often shameful failure of nerve. It is the flinch before the blow, the averted gaze that cannot meet the challenge, the instinctive step backward when every moral fiber demands a step forward—the visceral, animal instinct to preserve the self, which forever wars with the human demand for honor.
Etymology
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.
adj
- 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.”
- Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.
name
- A surname originating as an occupation.
noun
- A person who lacks courage.“Near-synonyms: big baby, baby”
verb
- 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, […]”
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