English
craven
Craven comes from Middle English cravant ‘defeated, overcome’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cravant‘defeated, overcome’
- Englishearliest quotation 1599craven
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cravant‘defeated, overcome’
- Englishearliest quotation 1599craven
Earliest quotation: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “He is a craven and a villain else.”
Linked words
through Latin crepō ‘to rattle, rustle, clatter’
Today it means
adj Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English cravant / craven