Etymology

cowardly

C3O1W4A1R1D2L1Y4

Today it means: Showing cowardice; lacking in courage; weakly fearful. Full definition →

Middle English *cowardly
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Middle English · inherited from*cowardly
  2. English todaycowardly

From Middle English *cowardly (adjective) and cowardly (adverb), equivalent to coward + -ly. Displaced native Old English earg.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.