cosy

cosy

English

Alternative forms

The spelling cosy predominates in British English, and cozy in American English.

• cozy (North America)
• cosie (Scotland)
• cozie
• cosey (archaic)
• cozey

Etymology

From Scots cosie, from Old Scots colsie, but ultimate derivation is unknown. Possibly of North Germanic origin, such as Norwegian kose seg (“to have a cozy time”), from Old Norse kose sig, from koselig, koslig, perhaps ultimately from Old High German kōsa; see modern German kosen (“to cuddle”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊzi/
• (US) enPR: kō'-zē, IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊzi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊzi

Adjective

cosy (comparative cosier, superlative cosiest)

1. Affording comfort and warmth; snug; social
   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 30, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, OCLC 28228280:

     after Mr. Bob Sawyer had informed him that he meant to be very cosy, and that his friend Ben was to be one of the party, they shook hands and separated

   Synonym: snug

   Hyponym: gemütlich

2. Warm and comfortable.

   I feel very cosy here in my bed.

Derived terms

• cosy catastrophe
• cosy up, cozy up

Translations

affording comfort and warmth

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: уту́льны m (utúlʹny) Bulgarian: удобен (bg) (udoben), уютен (bg) (ujuten) Catalan: acollidor (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 舒適 (syu1 sik1) Mandarin: 舒适 (zh) (shū shì), 暄暖 (zh) (xuān nuǎn) Cornish: klys Czech: pohodlný (cs), útulný Danish: hyggelig Dutch: gezellig (nl), gezellige (nl), knus (nl), knusse (nl) Esperanto: ujutna, gemuta Faroese: please add this translation if you can Finnish: mukava (fi), kodikas (fi) French: douillet (fr) m, douillette (fr) f, peinard (fr) m Georgian: მყუდრო (ka) (mq̇udro) German: gemütlich (de), behaglich (de), wohlig (de) Greek: άνετος (el) (ánetos) Icelandic: huggulegur (is) m Irish: seascair Italian: accogliente (it) Japanese: 居心地のいい (igokochi no ī) Khmer: please add this translation if you can Korean: please add this translation if you can Latvian: ērts Lithuanian: jaukus m Maori: āhuru Norwegian: Bokmål: koselig (no), hyggelig (no) Nynorsk: koseleg Old English: please add this translation if you can Polish: przytulny (pl) m, ciepły (pl), miły (pl) Portuguese: íntimo (pt), confortável (pt), aconchegante (pt) Romanian: comod (ro), confortabil (ro) Russian: ую́тный (ru) (ujútnyj) Scottish Gaelic: seasgair Slovak: útulný m Spanish: acogedor (es), hogareño Swedish: mysig (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: за́ти́шний m (zátýšnyj) Vietnamese: ấm cúng (vi) West Frisian: smûk (fy)

Noun

cosy (plural cosies)

1. A padded or knit covering put on an item to keep it warm, especially a teapot or egg.
2. A padded or knit covering for any item (often an electronic device such as a laptop computer).
3. A work of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community.

Derived terms

• cushion-cosy
• cushion cosy
• egg cosy, egg cozy
• loo-roll cosy
• loo roll cosy
• tea cosy, tea cozy
• toilet roll cosy
• toilet-roll cosy

 

Translations

a padded or knit covering put on a teapot

Chinese: Mandarin: 暖壸 (nuǎn hú) Japanese: コゼー (kozē) Portuguese: abafador (pt) m Russian: стёганый чехо́л m (stjóganyj čexól) Spanish: cubierta tejida f Swedish: huva (sv)

a padded or knit covering for any item

Japanese: カバー (ja) (kabā)

Verb

cosy (third-person singular simple present cosies, present participle cosying, simple past and past participle cosied)

1. To become snug and comfortable.
2. To become friendly with.

   He spent all day cosying up to the new boss, hoping for a plum assignment.

See also

• cosy up
• cosy up to
• cozen

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• Annandale, C., Ogilvie, J. (1907). The Student's English Dictionary. Ireland: Blackie, p. 164

Anagrams

• Coys, Soc'y, coys

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French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ko.zi/

Adjective

cosy (plural cosys)

1. cosy

Noun

cosy m (uncountable)

1. cosy

Further reading

• “cosy”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.