cold
/koʊld/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.02 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.
adj
adj
Dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial.
adj
Completely unprepared; without introduction.
adj
Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.
Example Sentences
- "A cold wind whistled through the trees."
- "As cold waters to a thirstie soule: so is good newes from a farre countrey."
- "Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!"
- "I had always supposed that playboys didn't give a hoot for anything except blondes and cold bottles."
- "The forecast is that it will be very cold today."
- "As fruits of hotter countries, transearthed in colder climates, have vigour enough in themselves to be fructuous according to their nature: but, that they are hindered by the chilling nips of the air, and the soil, wherein they are planted."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English cold, from Anglian Old English cald. The West Saxon form, ċeald (“cold”), survived as early Middle English cheald, cheld, or chald. Both descended from Proto-West Germanic *kald, from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz (“cold”), a participle form of *kalaną (“to be cold, to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold, to freeze”). Cognates Cognate with Scots cauld (“cold”), Saterland Frisian koold (“cold”), West Frisian kâld (“cold”), Alemannic German chalt, choalt, cholt, chélte (“cold”), Bavarian ckolt, kholt, koid, kòlt (“cold”), Central Franconian kalt (“cold”), Cimbrian kalt, khalt (“cold”), Dutch koud (“cold”), German kalt (“cold”), Low German kold, koolt (“cold”), Luxembourgish kal (“cold”), Mòcheno khòlt, kòlt (“cold”), Vilamovian kāłt (“cold”), Yiddish קאַלט (kalt, “cold”), Danish kold (“cold”), Faroese and Icelandic kaldur (“cold”), Norwegian Bokmål kald (“cold”), Norwegian Nynorsk kald, kald’u (“cold”), Swedish kall (“cold”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (kalds, “cold”); also Latin gelū, gelum, gelus (“frost; chill, cold”), Belarusian хо́лад (xólad, “cold”), Bulgarian хлад (hlad, “chill, coolness”), Czech chlad (“cold”), Macedonian лад (lad, “shade; coolness”), Polish chłód (“cold”), Russian and Ukrainian хо́лод (xólod, “cold”), Serbo-Croatian хла̑д, hlȃd (“shade”), Sanskrit जड (jaḍa, “cold; stiff”), जल (jala, “water”). Related to cool.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /koʊld/
- British English: /kəʊld/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.
Inflected Forms
colder (comparative)
coldest (superlative)
colds (plural)
more cold (comparative)
most cold (superlative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
a cold day in July
blow hot and cold
bright lights and cold steel
cold steel and bright lights
bring someone out in a cold sweat
bust ass cold
clap cold
clay-cold