cog – English noun declension

English noun forms of cog

Noun: cog
Singularcog
Pluralcogs

Sample Sentences

  • She said: " We're not wasting time. While the cogs of Parliament continue to whir, we will continue to work on the rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, the national transport integrated strategy, and our accessibility roadmap. [2025 November 12, David Stubbings, “Rail reform bill: pledge to rebuild trust of passengers”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 6:]
  • just a cog in the machine
  • All the old problems, the stale ones, both personal and general, had been solved by one mighty slash. Heaven alone knew as yet what others might arise - and it looked as though there would be plenty of them - but they would be new. I was emerging as my own master, and no longer a cog. [1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 60:]
  • 1976, Norman Denny (English translation), Victor Hugo (original French), Les Misérables
  • ‘There are twenty-five of us, but they don’t reckon I’m worth anything. I’m just a cog in the machine.’
  • 1988, David Mamet, Speed-the-Plow
  • Your boss tells you “take initiative,” you best guess right—and you do, then you get no credit. Day-in, … smiling, smiling, just a cog.

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *gēw-
3. Proto-Indo-European *gugāder.
4. Proto-Germanic *kuggōder.
5. Old Norse *koggrbor.
6. Middle English cogge
7. English cog
8. Inherited from Middle English cogge, from Old Norse *kogge, *koggr (see Old Swedish kogge, kogger), from Proto-Germanic *kuggō (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *gugā (“hump, ball”), from *gēw- (“to bend, arch”). Compare Lithuanian gugà (“pommel, hump, hill”).
9. Cognates includes: Swedish kugg, kugge (“cog tooth”), Norwegian kugg (“cog”). The meaning of “cog” in carpentry derives from association with a tooth on a cogwheel. Compare Old Swedish koggavidher (“cog wood”), “wood reserved for a millwheel”.
10. See also dialectal English cag (“stump”), keg; Old Norse kaggi (“keg”) + -gi (diminutive suffix), from the Germanic base *kagô (“bush, branch, stalk, stump”); also found in Bavarian Kag (“the stalk or stem of a cabbage”); dialectal Swedish kage (“treestump; piece of wood; post”), kagg or kagge (“scythe handle”); Norwegian Nynorsk kage or kagge (“low lying bush, small tree”), dialectal kagg (“scythe handle”); Old English ċeacga (“broom, furze, gorse”), whence English chag (“branch”), also Old English cyċġel, English cudgel (“knotty club”). The ultimate origin could be related to English cog (“cargo boat”) (Dutch kogge), probably named for its “round swollen” appearance. See: Middle English Nouns 'cogge', Middle English Nouns 'cogge', Old Norse Nouns '*koggr', English Nouns 'cag', Old Norse Nouns 'kaggi', Old English Nouns 'ċeacga', English Nouns 'chag', Old English Nouns 'cycgel', English Nouns 'cudgel', English Nouns 'cog', Dutch Nouns 'kogge'.

Verbs referencing "cog"

English Nouns cog, Old Norse Nouns kaggi.