What does cauld mean?
Cauld is the Scots and Northern English counterpart of the standard English word 'cold'. It describes anything with a low temperature — a cauld wind off the moors, a cauld winters night — and can also describe human warmth metaphorically, as in a cauld welcome or a cauld shoulder. The word is not an error or an archaic curiosity but a living regional form: it descends directly from the Old English adjective cald (also written ceald), which gave rise to both 'cold' in southern speech and 'cauld' in the north. Because of its deep roots in Scots literature — Robert Burns and other poets used it constantly — 'cauld' carries a strong sense of cultural identity and is often chosen for its flavour even where 'cold' would do. For readers outside Scotland and northern England, encountering it signals dialect voice or literary tradition; within those regions, it remains ordinary, everyday vocabulary for the most familiar of sensations.
(Scots and Northern English) Cold; having a low temperature.
"The cauld air nipped at their cheeks as they crossed the field."
Standard in Scots and northern dialects; elsewhere perceived as dialectal or poetic.
(Figurative) Unwelcoming, unaffectionate, or lacking enthusiasm.
"He met a cauld response when he suggested changing the plan."
Robert Burns wrote of 'the cauld blast' — this isn't a misspelling of 'cold', it's the proud Scots form of the word that survived straight from Old English.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cauld
Cauld derives from the Old English adjective cald (with the variant spelling ceald), meaning cold, which in turn goes back to the Proto-Germanic root *kaldaz. As English dialects diverged, southern speech developed the modern form 'cold', while Scots and northern English retained 'cauld' with its distinctive vowel. It is thus a doublet of 'cold', sharing the same ancestor rather than borrowing from another language, and it has been a fixture of Scots poetry since at least the Middle Scots period.
How cauld is actually used
'Cauld' belongs chiefly to Scots and to the traditional dialects of northern England, where it remains in everyday speech and literature; outside these regions it will read as archaic or dialectal. It is informal in register and carries strong regional identity, appearing frequently in Scottish poetry and song.
Easily confused with cauld
'Cauld' is simply the Scots and Northern English dialect form of the standard English word 'cold'; they share the same meaning but differ by region and register.