courage

See also: Courage

English

Etymology

From Middle English corage, from Old French corage (French courage), from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor (“heart”). Distantly related to cardiac (“of the heart”), which is from Greek, but from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Displaced Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“courage, valor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹ.ɪdʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈkɝ.ɪd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (US, without the hurry–furry merger):

    (file)

  • Audio (US, hurry–furry merger):

    (file)

Noun

courage (usually uncountable, plural courages)

1. The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
   • 1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Culture.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 120:

     A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.

   It takes a lot of courage to be successful in business.

2. The ability to overcome one's fear, do or live things which one finds frightening.

   He plucked up the courage to tell her how he felt.

   • 1897, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “[Pudd’nhead Wilson] Chapter XII”, in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson: And the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 155:

     Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.

3. The ability to maintain one's will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal. Moral fortitude.
   • 1942, C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters:

     “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

   • 1993, Stanley P. Cornils, The Mourning After: How to Manage Grief Wisely:

     Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

   • 2008, Maya Angelou, address for the 2008 Cornell University commencement

     Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

   • 2008, Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay:

     I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:courage

Derived terms

• courageless
• courage of one's convictions
• courageous
• digital courage
• discourage
• Dutch courage
• encourage
• gather up one's courage
• liquid courage
• pluck up one's courage
• screw up one's courage
• take courage
• take one's courage in both hands

 

Related terms

• cardiac

Translations

quality of a confident character

• Abkhaz: агәымшәара (agʷəmŝʷara)
• Afrikaans: moed (af), dapperheid
• Albanian: guxim (sq) m, trimëri (sq) f
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: شَجَاعَة (ar) f (šajāʕa), جَسَارَة f (jasāra)

  Egyptian Arabic: جسارة f (gasāra)

  Hijazi Arabic: شجاعة f (šajāʕa)

  South Levantine Arabic: شجاعة f (šajāʕa), جرأة f (júrʔa)

• Aragonese: corache m
• Armenian: քաջություն (hy) (kʻaǰutʻyun), արիություն (hy) (ariutʻyun), խիզախություն (hy) (xizaxutʻyun)
• Assamese: সাহ (xah), সাহস (xahox)
• Asturian: coraxe m, bravura f, braveza f
• Azerbaijani: cəsarət (az)
• Bashkir: батырлыҡ (batırlıq), ҡыйыулыҡ (qıyıwlıq), тәүәккәллек (təwəkkəllek), баҙнатлыҡ (baźnatlıq)
• Basque: kemen
• Belarusian: сме́ласць f (smjélascʹ), хра́брасць f (xrábrascʹ), адва́га f (adváha), му́жнасць f (múžnascʹ)
• Bengali: সাহস (bn) (śahoś)
• Bhojpuri: हिम्मत (himmat)
• Breton: nerz-kalon m
• Bulgarian: сме́лост (bg) f (smélost), хра́брост (bg) f (hrábrost), кура́ж (bg) m (kuráž)
• Burmese: သူရသတ္တိ (my) (sura.satti.)
• Catalan: coratge (ca) m, valor (ca) m
• Cebuano: kaisog
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Cherokee: ᎠᎵᎦᎵᏴᎯ (aligaliyvhi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勇氣／勇气 (zh) (yǒngqì), 膽量／胆量 (zh) (dǎnliàng)

• Czech: odvaha (cs) f, kuráž f, statečnost (cs) f
• Danish: mod (da) n, tapperhed (da) c
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: moed (nl) m, dapperheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: kuraĝo
• Estonian: julgus, vaprus (et)
• Faroese: dirvi n, mót n, áræði n, treysti n
• Finnish: rohkeus (fi), urheus (fi), urhoollisuus (fi)
• French: bravoure (fr) f, courage (fr) m, cœur (fr) m, vaillance (fr) f
• Friulian: fiât m
• Galician: afouteza f, coraxe (gl) f, carraxe f, brúo m, braveza f, xirio m, ardemento m, cordoxo m
• Georgian: გულადობა (guladoba), მამაცობა (mamacoba), ვაჟკაცობა (važḳacoba)
• German: Courage (de) f, Herz (de) n, Mut (de) m, Tapferkeit (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 f (balþei)
• Greek: κουράγιο (el) n (kourágio), θάρρος (el) n (thárros), γενναιότητα (el) f (gennaiótita), ανδρεία (el) f (andreía)

  Ancient: θάρσος n (thársos), ἀνδρεία f (andreía), τόλμα f (tólma)

• Guaraní: py'aguasu
• Gujarati: હિંમત m (himmat)
• Hawaiian: koa
• Hebrew: אֹמֶץ (he) m (ómets)
• Hindi: साहस (hi) (sāhas), हौसला (hi) m (hauslā), हिम्मत (hi) f (himmat)
• Hungarian: bátorság (hu)
• Icelandic: hugrekki (is) f or n, kjarkur (is) m
• Ido: kurajo (io)
• Igbo: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: keberanian (id)
• Interlingua: corage
• Irish: misneach (ga) m, sprid (ga) f
• Italian: coraggio (it) m
• Japanese: 勇気 (ja) (ゆうき, yūki), 度胸 (ja) (どきょう, dokyō)
• Javanese: wani (jv), kawenan
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: батылдық (batyldyq), аужарлық (aujarlyq)
• Khmer: សេចក្ដីក្លាហាន (səckdəy klaa haan)
• Korean: 용기(勇氣) (ko) (yonggi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: wêrekî (ku) f, bistehî (ku) f, cesaret (ku) f, curet (ku) f, mêranî (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: кайрат (ky) (kayrat), кайраттуулук (ky) (kayrattuuluk), жүрөктүүлүк (ky) (jüröktüülük)
• Ladino: koraje, animo, djesaret
• Lao: ເສົາຣະຍະ (sao ra nya), ຄວາມກ້າຫານ (khuām kā hān)
• Latin: fortitudo (la) f, virtus (la) f, animus (la) m, audentia f
• Latvian: drosme
• Lithuanian: drąsa (lt)
• Luganda: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Mutt m, Courage m
• Macedonian: храброст f (hrabrost), смелост f (smelost)
• Malagasy: herim-po (mg)
• Malay: keberanian
• Malayalam: ധൈര്യം (ml) (dhairyaṁ)
• Maltese: kuraġġ
• Maori: hautoa, māia, toa (mi)
• Marathi: please add this translation if you can
• Mirandese: coraige
• Mongolian: эр зориг (er zorig)
• Nepali: बहादुरी (bahādurī), साहस (sāhas)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mot (no) n, tapperhet m

• Occitan: coratge (oc) m
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: nōþ m
• Ossetian: хъӕбатырдзинад (qæbatyrʒinad)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: شهامت (fa) (šahâmat), جرات (fa) (jorât), جسارت (fa) (jasârat), شجاعت (fa) (šajâ'at)
• Polish: odwaga (pl) f, męstwo (pl) n, śmiałość (pl) f
• Portuguese: coragem (pt) f, coração (pt) m, valentia (pt) f
• Romanian: curaj (ro) n
• Russian: сме́лость (ru) f (smélostʹ), хра́брость (ru) f (xrábrostʹ), отва́га (ru) f (otvága), му́жество (ru) n (múžestvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: tapachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хра́бро̄ст f, сме̏ло̄ст f

  Roman: hrábrōst (sh) f, smȅlōst f

• Sicilian: curaggiu (scn) m
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: odvaha f
• Slovene: pogum (sl) m, hrabrost f
• Spanish: coraje (es) m, valor (es) m, valentía (es) f
• Swahili: ujasiri (sw)
• Swedish: mod (sv) n, tapperhet (sv) c
• Tagalog: tapang, katapangan, lakas ng loob (tl)
• Tajik: ҷасурӣ (jasuri), далерӣ (tg) (daleri), диловарӣ (dilovari), ҷуръат (jurʾat), ҷасорат (jasorat)
• Tamil: தைரியம் (ta) (tairiyam)
• Telugu: ధైర్యము (te) (dhairyamu)
• Thai: ความกล้า (th) (kwaam-glâa), ความกล้าหาญ (th) (kwaam-glâa-hǎan)
• Tibetan: སྙིང་སྟོབས (snying stobs)
• Turkish: cesaret (tr), yüreklilik (tr)
• Turkmen: batyrlyk (tk), mertlik, ýüreklilik
• Tuvan: эрес дидим чорук (eres didim çoruk)
• Ukrainian: сміли́вість (uk) f (smilývistʹ), хоро́брість f (xoróbristʹ), му́жність f (múžnistʹ), відва́га f (vidváha)
• Urdu: ساہس (sāhas), ہمت f (himmat)
• Uyghur: جاسارەت (jasaret)
• Uzbek: botirlik (uz), jasurlik (uz), mardlik (uz), jasorat (uz)
• Vietnamese: can đảm (vi)
• Volapük: kurad (vo)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: hyfdra (cy) m
• West Frisian: moed
• White Hmong: peevxwm, peev xwm
• Yiddish: מוט m (mut)
• Zazaki: cesaret c, egitey (diq) c
• Zulu: isibindi (zu) class 7/8

ability to do frightening things

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: جسارة f (gasāra)

• Armenian: խիզախություն (hy) (xizaxutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: мъ́жество (bg) n (mǎ́žestvo), реши́телност (bg) f (rešítelnost)
• Catalan: coratge (ca) m
• Danish: mod (da) n
• Dutch: moed (nl) m
• French: courage (fr) m
• Galician: carraxe f, brúo m, braveza f, xirio m, ardemento m, cordoxo m
• German: Mut (de) m, Beherztheit (de) f
• Greek: θάρρος (el) n (thárros), κουράγιο (el) n (kourágio)

  Ancient: θάρσος n (thársos), ἀνδρεία f (andreía)

• Khmer: សេចក្ដីក្លាហាន (səckdəy klaa haan)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پاڵەوانی (pallewanî)

• Malayalam: ധൈര്യം (ml) (dhairyaṁ)
• Maore Comorian: bari class 5
• Maori: hautoa, māia, toa (mi)
• Marathi: धाडस (dhāḍas)
• Mirandese: coraige f, oudácia f
• Nepali: हिम्मत (ne) (himmat)
• Persian: جرأت (fa) (jor'at), شهامت (fa) (šahâmat)
• Portuguese: coragem (pt) f, audácia (pt) f
• Russian: му́жество (ru) n (múžestvo), реши́тельность (ru) f (rešítelʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: tapachd f
• Spanish: valor (es) m, valentía (es) f
• Swahili: udjasiri class 11
• Tagalog: katapangan, lakas ng loob (tl)
• Zulu: isibindi (zu) class 7/8

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} شَجَاع (ar) (šajāʕ)
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} vaprust
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 용기 (ko) (yonggi)
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} mot (no) n
• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} cridhe m, ^{(please verify)} misneachd f, ^{(please verify)} gaisgeachd f, ^{(please verify)} meanmna m, ^{(please verify)} smior m, ^{(please verify)} smioralas m

Verb

courage (third-person singular simple present courages, present participle couraging, simple past and past participle couraged)

1. (obsolete) To encourage. [15th–17th c.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIX (in Middle English):

     And wete yow wel sayd kynge Arthur vnto Vrres syster I shalle begynne to handle hym and serche vnto my power not presumyng vpon me that I am soo worthy to hele youre sone by my dedes / but I wille courage other men of worshyp to doo as I wylle doo

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1530, William Tyndale, An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue:

     Paul writeth unto Timothy, to instruct him, to teach him, to exhort, to courage him, to stir him up,

See also

• fearlessness
• bield

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French corage, from Old French corage, from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.ʁaʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʒ

Noun

courage m (plural courages)

1. courage

   Synonym: bravoure

   Le courage est à mi-chemin entre la lâcheté et la témérité. ― Courage is the median between cowardice and foolhardiness.

Derived terms

• bon courage
• courageux
  • courageusement
• décourager
  • décourageant
  • découragement
• encourager
  • encourageant
  • encouragement
• prendre son courage à deux mains

Descendants

• → Bulgarian: кураж (kuraž)
• → Macedonian: кураж (kuraž)
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: korjøsk, korjørsk
• → Romanian: curaj
• → Russian: кураж (kuraž)

Interjection

courage !

1. chin up! keep going! take heart!

Usage notes

"bon courage !" has a slightly different meaning: "good luck!".

Further reading

• “courage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.