Etymologically
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coal

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 00:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kəʊl/, US /koʊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cole, inherited from Old English col (“charcoal, live coal”),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *kula(n),[2][3] the source also of Dutch kool, German Kohle and Old Norse kol.[2][3] Etymonline and Barnhart derive it from Proto-Indo-European *g(e)u-lo- (“live coal”), the source of Irish gual,[2][3] while Hoad calls its origin uncertain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of carbon glowing without flame, and a piece of burnt wood that can burn again: about 825 in the OED,[5] in the Vespasian Psalter.[3] Old English col meant a glowing ember, not the mineral.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Charcoal is from about 1205.[5][4] The black mineral burned as fuel, at first called sea-coal, is from the mid-13th century.[2][4] To carry coals, to do dirty work or put up with insults, is from the 1520s,[2] and to carry coals to Newcastle, to do something pointless, from about 1600,[2][6] since Newcastle was in the midst of a great coal-producing region.[2] Haul over the coals alludes to a real torture, the treatment of heretics.[6][2] The verb, to char, is from 1602,[5][3] and to supply a ship or engine with coal from 1864.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – a glowing ember.[5]
  • c. 1205 – charcoal.[5]
  • mid-13th century – the mineral fuel.[2]
  • 1520s – carry coals.[2]
  • c. 1600 – coals to Newcastle.[2]
  • 1602 – verb, to char.[5][3]
  • 1864 – verb, to supply with coal.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A hard black or dark brown mineral formed from ancient plants and burned as fuel.
  2. A piece of this.
  3. A glowing or burnt piece of wood or other fuel; an ember.

Verb

  1. To supply with coal, or to take in coal.

Word family

  • coalless
  • charcoal
  • collier
  • colliery

Usage notes

Coal was given as a New Year's gift in England for luck, said to ensure a warm hearth for the year.[2][8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2000), A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford: Oxford University Press