cowardice

English

Alternative forms

• cowardize, cowardise (both obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊədɪs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊɚdɪs/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊə(ɹ)daɪs/

Noun

cowardice (countable and uncountable, plural cowardices)

1. Lack of courage.

   Synonyms: cowardliness, cowardness, cowardship

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), 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, [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^[1]:

     [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) (vaxkotutʻyun), երկչոտություն (hy) (erkčʻotutʻyun)
• 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 (cs) 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)
• Ilocano: takrot
• Indonesian: kepengecutan (id)
• Interlingua: coardia
• Italian: codardia (it), viltà (it), pusillanimità (it), vigliaccheria (it)
• Ivatan: katahaw
• 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) (bhīrutvaṁ)
• 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, klæki 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 (buzdili), тарсончакӣ (tarsončaki)
• Tarifit: tiggʷdi f
• Tatar: куркаклык (tt) (qurkaklıq)
• Telugu: పిరికితనము (te) (pirikitanamu)
• Thai: ความขี้ขลาด (th) (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)