Word of the Day: June 18, 2009 - cough

cough (kawf) - noun

A cough is "the expulsion of air from the lungs suddenly with a harsh noise, often involuntarily."

First used in the written form around 1275–1325. Although it is largely disguised by the modern English pronunciation, cough is of onomatopoeic origin. It came from a prehistoric Germanic base kokh- (the kh pronounced not unlike the ch of loch), which imitated the sound of coughing. This has no recorded Old English descendant (although one probably existed) and first appears in the language as Middle English coughen.

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