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PlainSpell

cool

/kul/adjective, noun, verb

cool is spelled C-O-O-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 141 times per million words in written English, the 737th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, cool means “Of a mildly low temperature” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cool?

Letters4: C-O-O-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing141 times per million words; the 737th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is cool?

Cool appears 141 times per million words in written English, the 737th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cool?

  • UK /kuːl/
  • US /kul/
  • /kʉl/

Cool has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cool.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cool?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cool from its last stressed vowel (/ul/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: colo, loco.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of cool

  • cooler comparative
  • coolest superlative
  • c00l
  • k00l
  • kewl
  • kool
  • qewl
  • qool
  • coo
  • cools present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • cooling participle, present
  • cooled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cool mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a mildly low temperature.

    I like cool weather the most 'cause it's not too hot to wear a jacket but I won't be too cold in my shorts.

  2. 2

    Allowing or suggesting heat relief.

    Linen has made cool and breathable clothing for millennia.

  3. 3

    Of a color, in the range of violet to green.

    If you have a reddish complexion, you should mainly wear cool colors.

  4. 4

    Not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.

    Be cool. There's no need to panic.

  5. 5

    Unenthusiastic; lukewarm; skeptical.

    His proposals had a cool reception.

  6. 6

    obsoleteCalmly audacious.

  7. 7

    Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.

  8. 8

    informalKnowing what to do and how to behave; behaving with effortless and enviable style and panache; considered popular by others.

noun

  1. 1

    A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.

    in the cool of the morning

  2. 2

    A calm temperament.

  3. 3

    The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.

  4. 4

    IrelandarchaicA measure of butter, usually around 40lb; a container holding such an amount of butter.

verb

  1. 1

    To lose heat, to get colder.

    I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.

  2. 2

    To make cooler, less warm.

  3. 3

    To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

    Relations cooled between the USA and the USSR after 1980.

  4. 4

    To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

  5. 5

    datedslangTo kill, murder.

    Maybe he would die. That would mean I had murdered him. I smiled, trying the idea on for size. One of the things that always had cheesed me a little was that I had no kills to my credit. I'd been in plenty of rumbles, but somehow, I'd never

  6. 6

    slangTo relax, hang out.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cool in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfrais (having a slightly low temperature), chouette (colloquial: knowing how to behave; considered…), cool (colloquial: in fashion), calme, sang-froid (calm temperament), refroidir (to make colder (literally))
Germankühl (having a slightly low temperature), geil (colloquial: knowing how to behave; considered…), cool, kalt (not showing emotion, calm), abkühlen (to become less intense, e.g. less amicable)
Portuguesefresco (having a slightly low temperature), bacana, descolado (colloquial: knowing how to behave; considered…), tranquilo (not showing emotion, calm), frio (allowing or suggesting heat relief)
Spanishfresco, friito, friecito (having a slightly low temperature), genial, guay, bacán (colloquial: knowing how to behave; considered…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cool come from?

From Middle English cool, from Old English cōl (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōl(ī), from Proto-Germanic *kōluz (“cool”), from *kalaną (“to be cold, to freeze”), Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold, to freeze”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cool