Cowardly

How to spell cowardly

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cowardly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cowardly mean?

1. adjectiveLacking courage; behaving in a way that shows fear of danger, pain, or difficulty.

Cowardly in a sentence

• The manager made a cowardly decision and blamed the failure on his staff.

• Abandoning his colleagues during the crisis was a cowardly act.

Where does cowardly come from?

Language of origin: French

This word builds on 'coward', which English took from the Old French 'couard', a noun and adjective for a faint-hearted person. The French form descends from 'coue', meaning 'tail', which itself goes back to the Latin 'cauda', also meaning 'tail'. The link to a tail is vivid and practical: a frightened animal turns and runs with its tail tucked or held low, so 'couard' painted the picture of a creature showing its tail in flight rather than facing danger. English adopted 'coward' in the 1200s and then formed 'cowardly' by adding the native Germanic suffix '-ly', which marks a quality of character. A useful spelling note is that the 'w' sits quietly between 'co' and 'ard', so the word is spelled 'cow-ard-ly' even though the sound gives little hint that the letters 'cow' begin it.

How the word is built

• coward (one who lacks courage)
• -ly (adjective suffix meaning 'having the character of')