"C" Word Origins

cowlet

Origin

From cow + -let.

Cowley

Old English

From Old English elements meaning either "cow" or "coal" plus leah ("woodland clearing"), depending on the specific place.

coworker

Origin

Formed from co- ("together") + worker.

cowpoke

Origin

From cow + poke.

cowslip

Origin

From Middle English cowslyppe, from Old English cūslyppe (“cowslip”), from cū (“cow”) + slyppe (“paste, viscid substance”), related to Old English slūpan (“to slip, glide, move softly”). Compare oxlip.

cowson

Origin

Attested since the 1920s. From cow + son

cox

Origin

A shortened form of "coxswain."

coxcomb

Origin

From Middle English cokke’s comb.

coxswain

Origin

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

coy

Latin

From Old French coi, meaning "quiet" or "still," from Latin quietus — making "coy" a distant relative of "quiet" and "quit."

Coyle

Origin

An anglicised form of the Irish surname Irish Mac Dhubhghaill. The town in Oklahoma is named after businessman William H. Coyle, who served as a purchasing agent for the Eastern Oklahoma Railway.

coyote

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish coyote, itself from a Nahuatl (Aztec) word.

coyotillo

Origin

From Spanish coyotillo; diminutive of coyote, which is able to eat its poisonous fruit without harm.

cozen

Origin

From coz(y) + -en.

CPD

English

An initialism of continuing professional development.

CPI

English

An initialism of Consumer Price Index.

CPU

English

An initialism of central processing unit.

CQ

French

Borrowed from French CQ.

CR

Latin

Shortened from Latin credere, "to believe" or "to trust", the same root behind the word "credit".

crab

Old English

From Old English crabba, an ancient Germanic word for the shelled sea creature; the "complain" sense likely grew from the animal's irritable, snapping reputation.

Crabb

Origin

* As an English and Scottish surname, from the noun crab (both senses) * As a German, Dutch, and occasionally Danish surname, spelling variant of Krabbe.

crablike

Origin

From crab + -like. In sense “moving sideways”, due to crab’s sideways walk.

Crabtree

Origin

Literally from crab (crab apple) + tree — a tree that bears crab apples.

crack

Old English

From Old English cracian, meaning "to make a sudden loud noise" — the "break" and "joke" senses both grew from this basic idea of a sharp snap.

crackdown

Origin

Deverbal from crack down.

cracked

Origin

See crack. The origin of the slang sense “skilled (at a game)” is disputed, but may derive from the much older term crack shot (“one who is skilled at shooting”). Compare cracking, crackerjack.

cracker

Origin · 1700

From "crack," referring to the sharp snapping sound — the biscuit sense is first recorded in the 1700s; the ethnic slang sense has several competing theories, including a link to whip-cracking cattle drivers in the South.

crackerjack

Origin

From crack (meaning "excellent" or "skilled") + jack ("man"); also the name of a popular caramel-coated popcorn snack, Cracker Jack.

crackers

Origin

Originally British naval slang linking "firecrackers" to something going off in someone's head — "he's gone crackers" meaning he's lost his mind.

cracking

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English crakynge.

crackle

Origin

From "crack" plus the frequentative suffix -le, suggesting a repeated series of small cracking sounds.

crackleware

Origin

From crackle + -ware.

crackling

Origin

Formed from crackle plus the ending "-ing", describing the ongoing sound or the crisped skin.

cracknel

Origin

From Middle English crakenelle, craknel, krakenelle, apparently an alteration of Middle French craquelin.

crackpot

Origin

Probably built from crack (as in "crack-brained") plus pot, likening an unstable mind to a cracked pot.

cracksman

Origin

From crack + -s- + -man.

Craddock

Welsh

From the Welsh name Caradoc.

cradle

Old English

From Old English cradol, related to a Germanic root for a wicker basket — the same family as the word "cart".

craft

Old English

From Old English cræft ("strength, skill"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning power or strength — the sense narrowed over time from raw power to skilled ability.

craftsman

Origin

From craft plus man, literally "a man of skill/trade".

craftsmanship

Origin

From craftsman plus the suffix -ship, meaning "the quality or state of".

craftswomanship

Origin

From craftswoman + -ship, on the pattern of craftsmanship.

crafty

Old English

From Old English cræftig ("skilful, powerful"), from the same root as craft — the meaning gradually shifted from general skill to cunning.

crag

Origin

From 13th century Middle English crag, from Middle Irish crec, a contracted form of Middle Irish carrac (compare Irish creig, Scottish Gaelic creag), possibly ultimately from the late Proto-Indo-European/substrate *kar (“stone, hard”); see also Old Armenian քար (kʻar, “stone”), Sanskrit खर (khara, “hard, solid”), Welsh carreg (“stone”).

Craig

Origin

From craig (“rock”).

craigslist

Origin

From the name of the classified-ads website Craigslist, itself named after its founder, Craig Newmark.

cram

Old English

From Old English crammian ("to stuff, cram"), from a Germanic root meaning to press or squeeze together.

Cramer

German

From German Cramer.