Meaning

noun fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter deposited in the Carboniferous period

noun a hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering

verb burn to charcoal

originFrom Middle English col, from Old English col, from Proto-West Germanic *kol, from Proto-Germanic *kulą (“coal”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵwelH- (“to burn, shine”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian kööl (“coal”), Saterland Frisian Koole (“coal”), West Frisian koal (“coal”), Cimbrian kholl (“coal”), Dutch kool (“coal; carbon”), German Kohle (“coal”), Limburgish Kǫe̩l (“coal”), Luxembourgish…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0