Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “cough” come from?

Cough comes from Middle English coughen, from Old English cohhian, from Proto-Germanic kuh-, of uncertain ultimate origin.

cough (English): To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy...

Definitions

  1. To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy...

Ancestry of “cough”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishcoughen—
2Old Englishcohhian—
3Proto-Germanickuh-to cough

Words derived from “cough”

  • cougher
  • coughy
  • anticough
  • cougheth
  • coughless
  • coughest
  • cough up
Every word from Proto-Germanic kuh- →