cord
pronunciation
How to pronounce cord in British English:
UK 
How to pronounce cord in American English:
US
Word Origin
- cord
- cord: [13] Cord ‘string’ and chord ‘straight line’ were originally the same word. They go back to Greek khordé ‘string’, which came into English via Latin chorda and Old French corde. In English it was originally written cord, a spelling which included the sense ‘string of a musical instrument’. But in the 16th century the spelling of this latter sense was remodelled to chord, on the basis of Latin chorda, and it has been retained for its semantic descendants ‘straight line joining two points on a curve’ and ‘straight line joining the front and rear edges of a wing’. (Chord ‘combination of musical notes’ [15] is no relation: it is a reduced version of accord, which comes via Old French acorder from Vulgar Latin *accordāre, a compound verb based on Latin cors ‘heart’, and ironically was originally spelled cord.) Related words include cordon [16], from the French diminutive form cordon, and cordite [19], so named from its often being shaped into cords resembling brown twine.=> chord, cordite, cordon, yarn
- cord (n.)
- c. 1300, from Old French corde "rope, string, twist, cord," from Latin chorda "string of a musical instrument, cat-gut," from Greek khorde "string, catgut, chord, cord," from PIE root *ghere- "intestine" (see yarn). As a measure of wood (eight feet long, four feet high and wide) first recorded 1610s, so called because it was measured with a cord of rope.
Example
- 1. Keep your camera motionless by using a sturdy tripod and a shutter release cord .
- 2. Pulling the cord too late is one of the easier ways to kill yourself .
- 3. Use a needle and a beading cord to string the pumpkin seeds into a necklace .
- 4. The man 's hands were behind his back , the wrists bound with a cord .
- 5. These floating bouncy platforms are twisted to form arches and attached together with cord to form a bridge connecting the banks of the river seine .