"C" Word Origins

col

Latin

From French col, "neck," from Latin collum, "neck" — the shape of a mountain col resembles a neck between two higher points.

cola

Origin

From a West African language (compare Temne and Mandinka kola). The drink Coca-Cola made the word famous worldwide and popularized spelling it with a "c" instead of a "k".

colander

Latin

From Medieval Latin colatorium 'a strainer', from Latin colare 'to strain, to filter', which comes from colum 'a sieve'.

Colby

Origin · 1880

Named after Colby, Wisconsin, the town where the cheese was first made in the 1880s.

colchicum

Origin

Borrowed from translingual Colchicum, from Latin colchicum, from Ancient Greek κολχικόν (kolkhikón).

cold

Old English

From Old English cald/ceald, going back through Proto-Germanic to a very old Indo-European root meaning "cold" — the same root that gave German kalt and Swedish kall.

cold feet

German

Idiomatic sense possibly from a calque of German kalte Füße bekommen (“to get cold feet”), or of Lombard avegh minga frecc i pee (“to have no money”, literally “to be cold in the feet”) (Italian aver freddo ai piedi), said by a person who wishes to stop gambling, allegedly because the person now has cold feet due to being too poor to afford proper footwear.

cold turkey

Origin

Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.

cold wallet

English

From cold storage, the idea of keeping something offline and out of reach, contrasted with a hot, or connected, wallet.

coldhouse

Origin

From cold + house.

coldie

Origin

From cold + -ie (“diminutive suffix”), for cold one. Compare tinnie.

coldly

Middle English

From Middle English coldliche, formed from cold plus the adverb ending -ly.

coldness

Old English

From Old English cealdness, built from cold plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

cole

Latin

From Old English cawel, itself borrowed early from Latin caulis meaning "cabbage" — a relative of the words kale and cauliflower.

colectomy

Origin

From col- + -ectomy.

coleslaw

Dutch

Borrowed from Dutch koolsla, literally "cabbage salad" — kool means cabbage and sla means salad.

coleta

Origin

From Spanish coleta.

coli

Latin

A shortened scientific name, from Latin coli, meaning "of the colon" — because the bacterium lives in the large intestine.

colic

French

From French colique, ultimately from Greek kolikos, "suffering in the colon".

Colin

Origin

As a given name, a medieval short form of Nicholas; the bird sense comes from a separate, unrelated source.

coliseum

Greek

From the Colosseum, the giant amphitheatre in ancient Rome, whose name came from Greek kolossos, meaning "giant statue".

coll

Origin

Uncertain. The island name, from Latin Colosus (704 AD), is often associated with an Old Irish *koll or Proto-Brythonic *koll, themselves both from Proto-Celtic *koslos (“hazel”). Derivation from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant figure”) has been called "naïve" by Coates (2006).

collaborate

Latin

A back-formation from "collaborator", ultimately from Latin collaborare, "to work together with".

collaboration

Latin

From French collaboration, ultimately from Latin com- ("with") and laborare ("to work").

collaborative

Origin

Formed from collaborate plus the adjective ending -ive.

collaborator

French

Borrowed from French collaborateur.

collage

French

Borrowed from French collage, literally "gluing", from coller, "to glue".

collagen

French

From French collagène, built from Greek kolla ("glue") and -genes ("producing") — it's the substance animal-based glue was traditionally made from.

collapse

Latin

From Latin collapsus, the past participle of collabor, meaning "to fall together".

collar

Latin

From Old French coler, from Latin collare, from collum meaning "neck".

collarbone

Origin

A straightforward compound of collar and bone, since the bone runs roughly where a collar would sit.

collard

Origin

A shortened form of "colewort", an old word meaning cabbage greens.

collared

Origin

From collar plus the adjective-forming suffix -ed.

collate

Origin

From Latin collātus, perfect passive participle of conferō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of confer. See also infer, delate and defer (Etymology 2), relate and refer, as well as prelate and prefer among others. Not related to collateral.

collateral

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin collateralis, from Latin col- ("together with") and latus ("side") — literally "at the side".

collation

Origin

From Middle English collacioun, collation, from Old French collation, from Latin collatiō, from the participle stem of cōnferō (“to bring together”).

colleague

Latin

From Latin collega, "a partner in office", from com- ("with") and legare ("to send on a mission").

collect

Latin

From Latin colligere, "to gather together", from com- ("together") and legere ("to gather").

collected

Origin

From collect + -ed.

collectible

Origin

Formed from collect plus the suffix -ible, meaning "able to be".

collecting

Origin

From collect + -ing.

collection

Latin

From Latin collectio, from colligere, "to gather together".

collective

Latin

From Latin collectivus, from colligere, "to gather together".

collector

Late Latin

From Late Latin collector, from Latin colligere, "to gather together".

Colleen

Irish

From Irish cailín, meaning "girl" — the word itself, though widely used as a given name, isn't traditionally used as a first name in Ireland.

college

Latin

From Old French college, from Latin collegium, "a group of colleagues" — related to the word colleague.

collegial

Origin

From Middle English collegial, from Middle French collégial.

collegian

Origin

From Middle English collegian, from Medieval Latin collēgiānus.