cold weapon
/kəʊld ˈwɛp(ə)n/
"cold-weapon" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cold weapon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cold-weapon · cold weapon · English
cold weapon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cold weapon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəʊld ˈwɛp(ə)n/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cold weapon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cold weapon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /kəʊld ˈwɛp(ə)n/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.".
cold weapon has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From cold + weapon, possibly a calque of Russian холо́дное ору́жие (xolódnoje orúžije, “cold weapon”), from холо́дное (xolódnoje) (the nominative neuter form of холо́дный (xolódnyj, “cold”)) + ору́жие (orúžije, “arm, weapon; weaponry”): see the 1876 quotation. The correct English form is cold weapon, spelled C-O-L-D- -W-E-A-P-O-N.
Definition
- 1A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cold weapon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A fencing-room in which twenty or thirty couples of men are practising, is a fair illustration of a mélée with cold weapons.
The most effective weapons in the hands of the Caucasians was the sword, or as the Russians call it "the cold weapon" ["khalodnoye orúdiye," as opposed to firearms "agniovoye orúdiye"], the use of which, in hand-to-hand fight, was their special forte.
Etymology
From cold + weapon, possibly a calque of Russian холо́дное ору́жие (xolódnoje orúžije, “cold weapon”), from холо́дное (xolódnoje) (the nominative neuter form of холо́дный (xolódnyj, “cold”)) + ору́жие (orúžije, “arm, weapon; weaponry”): see the 1876 quotation.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.