coward: [13] Etymologically, a coward seems to be ‘someone who runs away with his tail between his legs’. It comes from Old French cuard, which was based on *cōda, the Vulgar Latin descendant of Latin cauda ‘tail’. (The apparently similar cower [13] is no relation, coming from Middle Low German *kūren ‘lie in wait’.)
coward (n.)
mid-13c., from Old French coart "coward" (no longer the usual word in French, which has now in this sense poltron, from Italian, and lâche), from coe "tail," from Latin coda, popular dialect variant of cauda "tail," which is of uncertain origin + -ard, an agent noun suffix denoting one that carries on some action or possesses some quality, with derogatory connotation (see -ard).
The word probably reflects an animal metaphoric sense still found in expressions like turning tail and tail between legs. Coart was the name of the hare in Old French versions of "Reynard the Fox." Italian codardo, Spanish cobarde are from French.
The identification of coward & bully has gone so far in the popular consciousness that persons & acts in which no trace of fear is to be found are often called coward(ly) merely because advantage has been taken of superior strength or position .... [Fowler]
As a surname (attested from 1255) it represents Old English cuhyrde "cow-herd." Farmer has coward's castle "a pulpit," "Because a clergyman may deliver himself therefrom without fear of contradiction or argument."
实用例句
1. She shot to stardom on Broadway in a Noel Coward play.
她因在百老汇出演了一部诺埃尔·科沃德的戏一炮而红。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He's a coward and a bully who confuses physical strength with manhood.
他是一个懦夫，一个分不清蛮力和大丈夫气概的恃强凌弱者。
来自柯林斯例句
3. "You're a coward," Mark said very plainly and soberly.
马克非常直率而严肃地说：“你是个懦夫。”
来自柯林斯例句
4. I don't want to see you ever again, you coward! "
