Courage

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkʌ.ɹɪdʒ/

Definitions

1. The quality of mind that enables someone to face danger, difficulty, or pain with firmness and without showing fear
2. The ability to confront fear, pain, or adversity with resilience and determination
3. The mental strength to withstand fear, danger, or difficulty while maintaining composure and resolve

Etymology: The Latin word for "heart" is "cor," and the English word for bravery is built on it. The noun descends from Vulgar Latin "corāticum," a Latin-based form meaning something like "that which pertains to the heart," which passed into Old French as "corage." English borrowed it in the Middle Ages as "corage," and the spelling settled into "courage" later. The Old French meaning already tied the word to feeling and spirit rather than to anatomy. The old native English word for bravery, "ellen," had been the everyday term for valor in Old English, but Middle English speakers gradually replaced it with the French-derived term. So the word for boldness in English is, at root, a word for the organ that pumps blood. The same Latin root lies behind "cardiac," but that word came into English from Greek, which gives the two a shared ancestry without a shared route. Courage had the heart in its name long before anyone thought of it as a metaphor for feeling.

Synonyms: bravery, valor, fearlessness

Antonyms: cowardice, fear, timidity