coward
‘one who lacks courage to meet danger or shrinks from the chance of being hurt’
Lexical development traced from the Tamil root:
E. cueard, cuard, cuward, couard < A.F. couard, couart < O.F. coart ‘coward’ < coe ‘tail’ < Lat. coda < cauda ‘tail’ + -ard < O.F. -ard, -art < G. -hard, -hart ‘hardy’ < Proto-G. -hart/-hard ‘bold, hardy’ < uhd < kar- < Tamil kaṭu