"C" Word Origins

Clipping of cocksucker.

A compound of "cock" (penis, vulgar slang) and "sucker," originally describing the sexual act and extended to a general term of abuse.

From "cock" plus "sucking," used as a crude intensifying adjective.

From the early 1600s, originally describing a horse with a "cocked" (upright) tail, like a rooster's; how the word came to mean a mixed drink is still debated, though one theory links it to stimulating "gingered up" drinks.

Shitgibbon compound of cock + waffle.

From "cock" (a rooster, seen as a strutting, self-important bird) plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y."

From Portuguese/Spanish coco, "grinning face," so named because the three holes on a coconut shell look like a face.

From Spanish cacao, ultimately from the Nahuatl word cacahuatl; the spelling "cocoa" arose from confusion with the unrelated word "coco" and was later fixed in place by an early English dictionary.

From cocoa (“coco”) + nut.

From "coco" (Portuguese/Spanish for "grinning face," describing the shell's three eye-like holes) plus "nut."

From French cocon, a diminutive of coque, "shell."

Borrowed from French cocotte.

From coco + yam, because old cocoyam was planted in coconut groves and resembled yams. New cocoyam was so named because it resembled old cocoyam.

From cocus + wood.

From Middle English cod/codde, of murky origin — the fish sense may trace back to Greek gados via Latin, though the word has also historically meant a pouch or bag, unrelated senses that got tangled together over time.

From Italian coda meaning tail, from Latin cauda.

Probably from "caudle," an old word for a warm, comforting drink given to invalids — the sense of gentle care carried over into both the pampering and cooking meanings.

From Old French code, "system of law," ultimately from Latin codex, an early word for a wax-covered wooden writing tablet — and later, a book.

From the colour-coded emergency alert systems used in hospitals and emergency services, in which red marks the most urgent category.

From linguistics, where code means a language or language variety; switching between codes gave the term, which later broadened to cover social and behavioural adjustment.

From French codéine, built from Ancient Greek kōdeia, "poppy head" — the plant part codeine is extracted from.

A straightforward compound of code and name.

Formed from the prefix co- 'together' plus dependent; the term arose in addiction treatment to describe the partner of a dependent person.

From Latin codex, "tree trunk" or "block of wood" — early writing tablets were made from wood, and the word later came to mean a bound book. It shares a root with "code."

A compound of cod and fish, used since the Middle Ages to make clear which animal "cod" referred to.

Borrowed from Middle French codicille, from Latin cōdicillus, diminutive of cōdex. See code.

Borrowed from French codicologie (with ending adapted to -ology), from Latin cōdic- (stem of cōdex) + French -ologie.

From codify + -er.

From code, ultimately from Latin codex meaning a book or block of wood for writing, plus the verb ending -fy from Latin facere to make.

From code (to write instructions in a programming language) plus -ing.

Unknown. Attested from a 1959 episode of the UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop". Originally written (1963) codswallop; the spelling cod's wallop is later. Various etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer”) (slang), hence “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence “to hit (with) the testicle bag,” or from cod (“fish”), hence perhaps some part of the fish, as used in the fishing industry. A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer”), thus sarcastically “Codd’s beer”. There is no evidence that

From Middle English co and Old English ca ("jackdaw").

From French coefficient, coined by the French mathematician François Viète from co- ("together") + efficient.

* (Jewish): Variant of Cohen. * (given name): As a modern given name, also a variant of Koen.

From Latin coercere, "to restrain or confine," from co- ("together") + arcere ("to shut in, keep off").

From Old French cohercion, from Latin coercitio, "restraint" — from the verb coercere, "to restrain" (see coerce).

From Latin coercere meaning to restrain, from co- together and arcere to shut in.

Learned borrowing from Late Latin coaetaneus (“one of the same age”).

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Κοῖος (Koîos, “Coeus”).

From Late Latin coaevus, from Latin con- (“equal”) + aevum (“age”).

From co- ("together") + exist.

From co- + existence.

Traced back through Dutch koffie and Italian caffè to Ottoman Turkish kahve, ultimately from Arabic qahwa.

A compound of coffee and house, describing a building set up specifically to serve the drink.

From coffee + maker.

From Middle English cofre, coffre, from Old French cofre, coffre, from Latin cophinus (“basket”), from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “basket”). Doublet of coffin. Cognate with German Koffer (“a suitcase”).

Anglicized from Irish Ó Cobhthaigh ("descendant of Cobhthach"), a byname meaning "victorious."

From Old French cofin, "basket" or "box," from Latin cophinus, itself from Greek kophinos, "a basket." It originally meant any box or case before narrowing to its current burial sense.