Etymologically
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charcoal

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈtʃɑː.kəʊl/[1]
  • US: /ˈt͡ʃɑɹ.koʊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English charcole, also char-col and charecole,[2][3][4] whose second part is cole, now coal, a word that originally meant charcoal itself.[5][6][7] The first part is of uncertain origin.[5][8][9][4] One suggestion, which the Middle English Dictionary, Etymonline, Klein, Hoad and Ayto mention, takes it from the verb charen (“to turn, change”), from Old English cerran, so that the compound meant wood "turned to coal";[2][3][10][6][7] Weekley compares Chapman's phrase "cole-turned wood".[11] The OED and Skeat point out that there is no evidence for this.[5][12] The other suggestion is a shortening of Middle French charbon (“charcoal”),[4][13][14] from Latin carbō, the source of carbon.[4][14][7] The verb char appears to be a back-formation from the noun.[7][11] Johnson recorded that Skinner had derived the word from a char meaning business, and Lye from the verb to chark, to burn.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Charcoal, or a piece of it: 1371, in a Latin entry of the York Minster fabric rolls ("In charcole empto"),[2][4] and about 1390 in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where a chair stands before the chimney "þer charcole brenned".[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The OED finds no satisfactory reason why the new name arose, since coal itself meant charcoal and a collier was a charcoal-burner.[5] The forms charke and cherke of the early 16th century come from a misdivision of the spoken word.[5] From 1489 to 1719 the word was also used as a collective plural.[5] Johnson (1755) described it as coal made by burning wood under turf, used in preparing metals.[15] A charcoal pencil or crayon for drawing is recorded from 1688, a charcoal drawing from 1884, and the colour charcoal grey from 1952, first in the United States.[5] The verb meant to suffocate with charcoal fumes (1839, Dickens) and to mark or blacken with charcoal (1840, Thackeray);[5] Merriam-Webster dates the sense "to broil over charcoal" to 1930.[13] In slang it has been a derogatory term for a Black person, recorded from 1894.[16]

Timeline

  • 1371 – charcole, in the York Minster fabric rolls.[2][4]
  • c. 1390 – in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.[2][5]
  • 1489 – collective plural charcoals (obsolete by 1719).[5]
  • 1688 – a charcoal pencil or crayon.[5]
  • 1839 – verb, to suffocate with charcoal fumes.[5]
  • 1840 – verb, to mark or blacken with charcoal.[5]
  • 1884 – a charcoal drawing.[5]
  • 1930 – verb, to broil over charcoal.[13]
  • 1952 – charcoal grey.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A black, porous form of carbon made by heating wood or other organic matter with little or no air, used as a fuel, in smelting and as an absorbent: We lit the barbecue with charcoal.[9][13][5]
  2. A stick or pencil of charcoal for drawing.[9][5]
  3. A drawing made in charcoal.[9][5]
  4. Charcoal grey, a very dark grey.[9][5]

Verb

  1. To write, draw, mark or blacken with charcoal.[9][5]
  2. To broil over hot charcoal; to charbroil.[13]

Word family

  • charcoaly
  • charcoal rot
  • activated charcoal
  • charcoal burner
  • animal charcoal
  • carbonara
  • Carbonari
  • charbroil
  • coal
  • char
  • carbon
  • chare
  • charwoman
  • collier

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com