different between quitter vs coward

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kw?.t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?(?)
• Homophone: quittor

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman quiture, quyture et al., specialised use of quiture (“burn mark, burning”), from the participle stem of cuire (“to cook”), or from Latin coctura (“cooking”).

Alternative forms

• quittor, quitture (obsolete)

Noun

quitter (uncountable)

1. (now rare outside Jamaican) Matter flowing from a wound or sore; pus.
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job II:

     Therfor Sathan [...] smoot Joob with a ful wickid botche fro the sole of the foot til to his top; which Joob schauyde the quytere with a schelle, and sat in the dunghil.

2. (farriery) A fistulous wound at the top of a horse's foot resulting from bruises, pricks, or neglected corns.
3. (obsolete) Scoria of tin.

Verb

quitter (third-person singular simple present quitters, present participle quittering, simple past and past participle quittered)

1. To suppurate; ooze with pus.

Etymology 2

From quit +? -er.

Noun

quitter (plural quitters)

1. One who quits.

2. (obsolete) A deliverer.

Derived terms

• spitters are quitters

Translations

French

Etymology

From quitte +? -er, or from Late Latin quietare (“acquit, discharge, release”), from Latin qui?t?re, present active infinitive of qui?t? (“to calm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.te/

Verb

quitter

1. (transitive, law or obsolete) to discharge somebody from an obligation
2. (transitive, of a place) to leave, to quit
3. (transitive, of a person) to part with somebody, to leave somebody

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ne pas quitter d'une semelle
• quittance

Related terms

• acquitter

Further reading

• “quitter” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Adjective

quitter

1. inflection of quitt:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

Middle French

Etymology

Old French quitter.

Verb

quitter

1. to release from an obligation; to forgive (a debt)
2. to liberate; to free
3. to pardon
4. to leave

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

• French: quitter

References

• quitter on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)

Old French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin qui?tus (“at rest”)

Verb

quitter

1. to liberate; to free

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-tt, *-tts, *-ttt are modified to t, z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

• ? English: quit
• French: quitter

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)
• quitter on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

English

Etymology

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda. The reference seems to be to an animal “turning tail”, or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Unrelated to English cower. Displaced native Old English earg.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: kou'?d, IPA^(key): /?ka??d/
• (US) enPR: kou'?rd, IPA^(key): /?ka??d/
• Hyphenation: co?ward
• Homophone: cowered

Noun

coward (plural cowards)

1. A person who lacks courage.
   • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part II Chapter IV, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

     He tortured himself to find out how he could make his declaration to her, and always halting between the fear of displeasing her and the shame of being such a coward, he wept with discouragement and desire. Then he took energetic resolutions, wrote letters that he tore up, put it off to times that he again deferred.

Synonyms

• chicken
• scaredy pants
• yellowbelly
• See also Thesaurus:coward

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

coward (comparative more coward, superlative most coward)

1. Cowardly.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 4,^[1]

     He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon” in Poems on Several Occasions, London: Jacob Tonson, 2nd edition, p. 89,^[2]

     Invading Fears repel my Coward Joy;

     And Ills foreseen the pleasant Bliss destroy.

2. (heraldry, of a lion) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.

Verb

coward (third-person singular simple present cowards, present participle cowarding, simple past and past participle cowarded)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To intimidate.
   • 1820, John Chalkhill, Thealma and Clearchus

     The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]

References

• Coward in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)