craven
adjective
[ ˈkreɪv(ə)n ]
• contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.
• "a craven abdication of his moral duty"
Similar:
cowardly,
lily-livered,
faint-hearted,
chicken-hearted,
pigeon-hearted,
spiritless,
spineless,
timid,
timorous,
fearful,
trembling,
quaking,
shrinking,
cowering,
afraid of one's own shadow,
pusillanimous,
weak,
feeble,
soft,
yellow,
chicken,
weak-kneed,
gutless,
yellow-bellied,
wimpish,
wimpy,
sissy,
sissified,
wet,
candy-assed,
poltroon,
recreant,
poor-spirited,
chickenshit,
craven
noun
• a cowardly person.
Origin:
Middle English cravant ‘defeated’, perhaps via Anglo-Norman French from Old French cravante, past participle of cravanter ‘crush, overwhelm’, based on Latin crepare ‘burst’. The change in the ending in the 17th century was due to association with past participles ending in -en (see -en3).
