# colt

> English word · Noun · IPA /kəʊlt/ · frequency rank #13,486

## Definitions
1. A young male horse.
2. A young crane (bird).
3. A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
4. A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
5. A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
6. A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.
7. A weapon formed by slinging a small shot to the end of a somewhat stiff piece of rope.
8. A young camel or donkey.

## Etymology
From Middle English colt, from Old English colt, from Proto-Germanic *kultaz (“plump; stump; thick shape, bulb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelt- (“something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb”), from *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Faroese koltur (“colt, foal”) Norwegian kult (“treestump”), Swedish kult (“young boar, piglet, boy, lad”) / Swedish kulting (“piglet”). Related to child.

## Easily confused with
- **CT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-ct)
- **cut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cut)
- **cop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cop)
- **con** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-con)
- **cow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cow)
- **cos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cos)
- **cox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cox)
- **cor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cor)
- **coo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-coo)
- **cot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cot)
- **coz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-coz)
- **coy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-coy)
- **cpl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cpl)
- **CRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-crt)
- **CST** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cst)
- **Cov** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cov)
- **CSL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-csl)
- **come** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-come)
- **cost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cost)
- **cool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colt-vs-cool)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ccolt`, `collt`, `coltt`, `cotl`, `oclt`

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