Etymograph

English

cool

Cool comes from Old English cōl ‘cool, cold’, from Proto-Germanic *kōluz, from *kalaną ‘to be cold’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to freeze’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-1‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kalaną1‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kōluz1‘cool’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōl(ī)1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cōl1‘cool, cold, calm’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cool1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1749cool1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cool
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones: “Who will lend me a cool hundred.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-Wiktionary, English cool‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kalanąWiktionary, English cool‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kōluzWiktionary, English cool‘cool’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōl(ī)Wiktionary, English coolreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cōlWiktionary, English cool‘cool, cold, calm’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coolWiktionary, English cool
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1749coolWiktionary, English cool. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones: “Who will lend me a cool hundred.”

Linked words

through Old English cōl ‘cool, cold, tranquil, calm’

coal

Another origin of cool

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gól-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kalaną‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kōluzreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōl(ī)reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōlēn‘to become cold’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150cōlian‘to cool, grow cold, be cold’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500colen
  8. Englishtodaycool

Also partially from Middle English kelen, from Old English cēlan (‘to cool, be cold, become cold’), from Proto-West Germanic *kōlijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōlijaną (‘to cool’), altered to resemble the adjective cool.

Today it means

adj Of a mildly low temperature.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cool”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gel- / cool

Shirt and support for this word