Etymologically
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cozy

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkəʊzi/[1]
  • US: /koʊzi/[1]

Etymology

The word is originally Scots, with the earliest form “colsie” (1709);[2][3][4][5] in Britain it is usually spelled “cosy”.[3][6] Its origin is uncertain: Collins, the Oxford dictionaries, Hoad and Chambers call it unknown,[6][7][8][4][9] while Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as probably of Scandinavian origin,[10][11][12] and Barnhart and Etymonline as possibly so.[2][3] Klein takes it as borrowed from Norwegian koselig (“cosy, snug”),[13][14] from kose seg (“to make oneself comfortable”),[13][10][15] which other dictionaries cite only for comparison.[2][3][10] Skeat also compared kosa (“to refresh”) and kosing (“recreation”).[16] Weekley tentatively compared German kosen (“to chat familiarly”) and liebkosen (“to caress”), which he took as ultimately the same word as French causer (“to talk”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person: comfortable from being warm and sheltered, snug: 1709, in the Scots form colsie.[17][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to Scots, and Burns used cozie of a sheltered place where people close the day.[16][8] Of a place, sheltered and warm, it is recorded from the 18th century, and in the sense "sheltering, keeping one warm" from 1785.[17][8] The spelling cosy is recorded from 1728.[2] The noun, a padded cover to keep a teapot warm, the tea cosy, dates from 1863.[3][2][10] In the 20th century the adjective was applied to an easy job (1915), and since 1927 to anything warmly intimate, often disparagingly for something complacent or parochial;[17][8] the sense of a close and somewhat suspect arrangement, is in Collins and the American Heritage Dictionary.[6][18] American English added the verb cozy up, to become friendly with or ingratiate oneself, from 1937,[19][2] and the phrase play it cozy, to act cautiously, from 1929 in Green's Dictionary of Slang, 1946 in Merriam-Webster.[20][10] In the 19th century cosy was also a euphemism for drunk.[20]

Timeline

  • 1709 – colsie, comfortable, snug, in Scots.[17][2][3]
  • 1728 – the spelling cosy.[2]
  • 1785 – of a place, sheltering, keeping warm.[17]
  • 1825 – a euphemism for drunk.[20]
  • 1863 – noun, a cover for a teapot.[3][2][10]
  • 1894 – cosy corner, a corner seat.[17]
  • 1915 – of a job, easy.[17]
  • 1927 – warmly intimate; complacent.[17]
  • 1929 – play it cozy, to act cautiously.[20]
  • 1937 – the verb, cozy up to, to ingratiate oneself.[19][2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Warm, snug and comfortable: a cozy little kitchen.[18][10][6]
  2. Marked by friendly intimacy or familiarity: a cozy evening with old friends.[18][10][6]
  3. Marked by a close association for underhand or devious purposes; convenient for those involved.[18][6]

Noun

  1. A padded or knitted cover for keeping a teapot or other food warm.[18][10][6]

Verb

  1. cozy up (to): to try to become friendly with someone; to ingratiate oneself.[18][19]

Adverb

  1. play it cozy: cautiously.[10][20]

Word family

  • cozily
  • coziness

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  13. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  16. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  17. ^ 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
  18. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  19. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  20. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com