Livered

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Showing cowardice or a timid temperament, as in the old phrase describing a person with a faint heart
2. Used of someone lacking courage, a meaning inherited from the older belief that the liver was the seat of feeling
3. Describing a person who is fearful and spineless, most often seen in compounds like lily-livered or white-livered

Etymology: The word "livered" comes from the noun "liver" with the suffix "-ed," which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "having" that thing. Its sense rests on an old medical belief: in earlier centuries the liver was thought to be the seat of courage, passion and emotion, so a person with a pale or white liver was thought to lack spirit. "Livered" therefore describes someone whose liver is figuratively pale, meaning cowardly or fearful at heart. The word is a straightforward formation rather than a borrowing, and its sense follows directly from the organ it names. Other compounds built the same way, such as "lily-livered," preserve the same picture of a bloodless, timid inner organ.

Synonyms: cowardly, craven

Antonyms: brave, courageous