# cough

> English word · Verb · IPA /kɒf/ · frequency rank #7,668

## Definitions
1. Sometimes followed by up: to force (something) out of the lungs or throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.
2. To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.
3. To express (words, etc.) in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.
4. To surrender (information); to confess.
5. Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).
6. To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually to expel something blocking or irritating the airway.
7. To make a noise like a cough.
8. To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.

## Etymology
From Middle English coughen, coghen (“to cough; to vomit”) [and other forms], from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin.
Cognates
* Middle Dutch cuchen (“to cough”) (modern Dutch kuchen (“to cough”); German Low German kuchen (“to cough”))
* Middle High German kûchen (“to breathe (on); to exhale”), kîchen (“to breathe with difficulty”) (modern German keichen, keuchen (“to breathe with difficulty; to gasp, pant”))
* Spanish cof (“coughing sound”)
* West Frisian kiche (“to cough”), kochelje (“to cough persistently”)

## Easily confused with
- **coup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-coup)
- **cour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-cour)
- **could** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-could)
- **court** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-court)
- **count** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-count)
- **crush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-crush)
- **coupe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-coupe)
- **coups** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-coups)
- **cours** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-cours)
- **crouch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cough-vs-crouch)
- **cog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cog-vs-cough)
- **Cong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cong-vs-cough)
- **chug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chug-vs-cough)
- **coach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coach-vs-cough)
- **couch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/couch-vs-cough)
- **Congo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/congo-vs-cough)
- **corgi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/corgi-vs-cough)
- **conch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/conch-vs-cough)
- **conga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/conga-vs-cough)
- **caught** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/caught-vs-cough)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ccough`, `coguh`, `couggh`, `coughh`, `couhg`, `cuogh`, `ocugh`

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