cold feet

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cold feet

Where it comes from

Idiomatic sense possibly from a calque of German kalte Füße bekommen (“to get cold feet”), or of Lombard avegh minga frecc i pee (“to have no money”, literally “to be cold in the feet”) (Italian aver freddo ai piedi), said by a person who wishes to stop gambling, allegedly because the person now has cold feet due to being too poor to afford proper footwear.

noun

informal, plural, plural only A feeling of nervousness or anxiety causing one to reconsider a decision about an upcoming event. The groom got cold feet before his wedding.
plural, plural only Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cold, feet.

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MLA

"cold feet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cold%20feet. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cold feet. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cold%20feet

Chicago

"cold feet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cold%20feet.

BibTeX

@misc{cold_feet_2026,
  title = {cold feet},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cold%20feet},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}