Etymology

coxswain

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Today it means: In a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew. Full definition →

Middle English cokswain
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromcokswain
  2. English todaycoxswain

From Middle English cokswain, equivalent to cock (“small boat”) + swain (“boy, servant”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.