# coal

> English word · Noun · IPA /kəʊl/ · frequency rank #3,048

## Definitions
1. A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
2. A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
3. A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English)
4. A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
5. Charcoal.
6. Content of low quality.
7. Bombs emitting black smoke on impact.
8. Money.

## Etymology
From Middle English cole, from Old English col, from Proto-West Germanic *kol, from Proto-Germanic *kulą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵwelH- (“to burn, shine”).
Cognate with West Frisian koal (“coal”), Cimbrian kholl (“coal”), Dutch kool (“coal; carbon”), German Kohle (“coal”), Luxembourgish Kuel (“coal”), Vilamovian köła (“coal”), Yiddish קויל (koyl, “coal”), Danish kul (“coal”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish kol (“coal; carbon”), Jamtish kuł (“coal; carbon”). Compare Middle Irish gúal (“coal”), Lithuanian žvi̇̀lti (“to twinkle, glow”), Persian زغال (zoġâl, “live coal”), Sanskrit ज्वल् (jval, “to burn, glow”), Tocharian B śoliye (“hearth”), all from the same root.

## Easily confused with
- **cop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cop)
- **con** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-con)
- **cow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cow)
- **cos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cos)
- **col** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-col)
- **cox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cox)
- **cod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cod)
- **cor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cor)
- **coo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-coo)
- **CPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cpa)
- **cot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cot)
- **Coe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-coe)
- **coz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-coz)
- **CSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-csa)
- **coy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-coy)
- **cpl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cpl)
- **cob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cob)
- **cog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cog)
- **CTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cta)
- **Cov** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cov)

## Common misspellings (4)
`caol`, `ccoal`, `coall`, `ocal`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/coal