cough

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kɒf/, US /kɑːf/, /kɔːf/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English coughen, kouwen, probably from an unrecorded Old English *cohhian, of which cohhettan (“to bluster”) is a frequentative,^[2][3][4] of imitative origin,^[3][5][6] and akin to Middle Dutch kochen (“to cough”) and Middle High German kūchen (“to breathe heavily”) (German keuchen (“to pant”)).^[3][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To expel air from the lungs violently and noisily: before 1325 in Barnhart, about 1325 in the OED.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a single cough, is from about 1300 in Etymonline,^[4] and an illness with frequent coughing from 1377 in the OED.^[7] Cough medicine is attested by 1828 and cough drops by 1829.^[4] Cough up, to hand over money, is first recorded in 1894 in American English,^[3][4] and in slang to cough is to confess or give information (1901).^[7] The gh once stood for a guttural sound like that of Scottish loch, which shifted to f.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to cough.^[3]
• 1377 – a cough (illness).^[7]
• 1828 – cough medicine.^[4]
• 1894 – cough up.^[3][4]
• 1901 – to confess (slang).^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To force air out of the lungs suddenly and noisily.
2. To make a similar sound, as an engine.
3. cough up (informal): to hand over money or information unwillingly.

Noun

1. An act or sound of coughing.
2. An illness causing frequent coughing.

Word family

• cougher
• cough up
• cough drop
• cough syrup

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press