Etymograph

English

cowl

Cowl comes from Middle English coule ‘a cowl’, and goes back to Latin cucullus ‘hood’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcucullus1‘hood’
  2. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500cuculla1‘monk's cowl’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cugele1‘hood, cowl’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cūle1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coule1‘a cowl’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1734cowl1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cowl
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1734, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “What differ more (you cry) than Crown and Cowl?"…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcucullusWiktionary, English cowl‘hood’
  2. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500cucullaWiktionary, English cowl‘monk's cowl’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cugeleWiktionary, English cowl‘hood, cowl’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cūleWiktionary, English cowl
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500couleWiktionary, English cowl‘a cowl’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1734cowlWiktionary, English cowl. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1734, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “What differ more (you cry) than Crown and Cowl?"…”

Every English word from Latin cucullus

Another origin of cowl

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cold
  2. Ulster Scotsmoderncoul
  3. Englishtodaycowl

Today it means

noun A monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cowl”. 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 / Latin cucullus / cowl

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