cowardice

cowardice

English

Etymology

From Middle English cowardise, from Anglo-Norman cuardise (modern French couardise).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kouʹərdĭs, IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊədɪs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊɚdɪs/
• (dialectal) enPR: kouʹərdīs, IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊə(ɹ)daɪs/[1]

Noun

cowardice (countable and uncountable, plural cowardices)

1. Lack of courage.

   Synonyms: cowardliness, cowardness, cowardship

   Alternative form: cowardize (obsolete)

   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     The ſecond property of your excellent ſherris, is the vvarming of the blood, vvhich before (cold & ſetled) left the lyuer vvhite & pale, vvhich is the badge of puſilanimitie and covvardize: but the ſherris vvarmes it, and makes it courſe from the invvards to the partes extreames, […]

   • 2019 July 19, Noah Kulwin, “Democrats Fail the Left, Once Again”, in Jewish Currents‎:

     [Ilhan] Omar was left twisting in the wind earlier this year after facing spurious charges of antisemitism, a display of Democratic cowardice co-signed by Chelsea Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and most every other Democrat with a congressional leadership position.

Related terms

• coward
• cowardly

 

Translations

the lack of courage

Arabic: جَبَانَة‎ f (jabāna) Egyptian Arabic: جبانة‎ f (gabāna) Armenian: վախկոտություն (hy) (vaxkotutʿyun), երկչոտություն (hy) (erkčʿotutʿyun) Azerbaijani: qorxaqlıq Belarusian: тру́сасць f (trúsascʹ), палахлі́васць f (palaxlívascʹ), баязлі́васць f (bajazlívascʹ), маладу́шнасць f (maladúšnascʹ) Bulgarian: страхли́вост f (strahlívost), малоду́шие (bg) n (malodúšie) Catalan: covardia (ca) f Cebuano: katalawan Chinese: Mandarin: 膽怯／胆怯 (zh) (dǎnqiè), 怯懦 (zh) (qiènuò) Czech: zbabělost f Danish: fejhed c Dutch: lafheid (nl) f Esperanto: malkuraĝeco Estonian: argus (et) Finnish: pelkuruus (fi) French: lâcheté (fr) f, couardise (fr) f Galician: covardía (gl) f Georgian: სიმხდალე (simxdale) German: Feigheit (de) f, Kleinmut (de) m, Ängstlichkeit (de) f Greek: δειλία (el) f (deilía), ανανδρία (el) f (anandría) Ancient: δειλία f (deilía) Guaraní: py'amirĩ Hebrew: פַּחְדָנוּת‎ f (pakhdanút) Hindi: कायरता (hi) f (kāyartā), बुज़दिली f (buzdilī) Hungarian: gyávaság (hu) Icelandic: gunguskapur m, heigulsháttur m, ragmennska f, bleyði f Ido: poltroneso (io), deskurajo (io) Indonesian: kepengecutan (id) Interlingua: coardia Italian: codardia (it), viltà (it), pusillanimità (it), vigliaccheria (it) Japanese: 憶病 (おくびょう, okubyō), 卑怯 (ja) (ひきょう, hikyō) Kazakh: жүрексіздік (jüreksızdık), қорқақтық (kk) (qorqaqtyq) Korean: 비겁(卑怯) (ko) (bigeop) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: newêrekî (ku), tirsokî (ku), tirsonekî (ku), bêcesaretî (ku), bêcuretî (ku) Kyrgyz: коркоктук (korkoktuk), жүрөксүздүк (ky) (jüröksüzdük) Ladino: kagadero, kagatina Latin: īgnāvia f Latvian: gļēvulība f Lithuanian: bailumas m Macedonian: кукавичлук m (kukavičluk), плашливост f (plašlivost) Malayalam: ഭീരുത്വം (ml) (bhīrutvaṃ) Middle English: cowardnesse, cowardie, cowardise Norwegian: Bokmål: feighet (no) m or f Nynorsk: feigskap m Old English: ierġþ f Old Norse: bleyði f, argskapr m, hugbleyði f, geitarhugr m, klaeki n, ragmennska f, ragskapr m, regi f Ottoman Turkish: یوركسزلك‎ (yüreksizlik), طبانسزلق‎ (tabansızlık) Persian: بزدلی‎ (fa) (bozdeli) Polish: tchórzostwo (pl) n, tchórzliwość (pl) f, bojaźliwość (pl) f Portuguese: covardia (pt) f Romanian: poltronerie (ro) f, lașitate (ro) f Russian: тру́сость (ru) f (trúsostʹ), трусли́вость (ru) f (truslívostʹ), малоду́шие (ru) n (malodúšije), боязли́вость (ru) f (bojazlívostʹ), бзде́ние (ru) n (bzdénije) (vulgar) Scottish Gaelic: cladhaireachd f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кукавѝчлук m, стра̀шљиво̄ст f, пла̀шљиво̄ст f, боја̀жљиво̄ст f Roman: kukavìčluk (sh) m, stràšljivōst (sh) f, plàšljivōst (sh) f, bojàžljivōst (sh) f Slovak: zbabelosť f Slovene: boječnost f, strahopetnost (sl) f Spanish: cobardía (es) f Swedish: feghet (sv) c Tagalog: kaduwagan, karuwagan Tajik: буздилӣ (buzdilī), тарсончакӣ (tarsončakī) Tatar: куркаклык (tt) (qurkaklıq) Telugu: పిరికితనము (te) (pirikitanamu) Thai: ความขี้ขลาด (kwaam-kîi-klàat) Turkish: korkaklık (tr) Turkmen: gorkaklyk Ukrainian: боягу́зтво (uk) n (bojahúztvo), малоду́шність f (malodúšnistʹ) Urdu: بُزْدِلی‎ f (buzdilī) Uyghur: قورقۇنچاقلىق‎ (qorqunchaqliq) Uzbek: qoʻrqoqlik (uz), yuraksizlik (uz) Vietnamese: tính nhút nhát Volapük: dredöf (vo)

References

1. Stanley, Oma (1937), “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, DOI:10.7312/stan90028, →ISBN, § 15, page 29.