Standard Lemma guide

coleslaw

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkəʊlslɔː/
  • General-American: /ˈkoʊlslɔ/
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈkoʊlslɑ/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊlslɔː
  • CMU ARPABET: K OW1 L S L AA2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise (white slaw) or a vinaigrette (red slaw).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

basically shredded cabbage

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: slaw

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: salad

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *keh2ulisder. Latin caulisbor. Old Dutch *kōl /*kōla Middle Dutch col /cole Dutch kool Dutch sla Dutch koolslabor. English coleslaw Borrowed from Dutch koolsla (mentioned in English as the Dutch name by at least in 1794), from kool (“cabbage”) + sla (“salad”).

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: koolslaai — a salad
  • Chinese Mandarin: 涼拌捲心菜 /凉拌卷心菜 (liángbàn juǎnxīncài) — a salad
  • Czech: zelný salát — a salad
  • Dutch: koolsla — a salad
  • Dutch: coleslaw — a salad
  • Esperanto: brasikosalato — a salad
  • French: coleslaw — a salad
  • French: salade de chou (New Brunswick) — a salad
  • German: Krautsalat — a salad
  • German: Kohlsalat — a salad
  • German: Weißkohlsalat — a salad
  • Greek: λαχανοσαλάτα (lachanosaláta) — a salad
  • Hungarian: káposztasaláta — a salad
  • Icelandic: hrásalat — a salad
  • Japanese: コールスロー (kōrusurō) — a salad
  • Māori: roi huamata — a salad
  • Polish: coleslaw — a salad
  • Polish: colesław — a salad
  • Polish: kolesław — a salad
  • Russian: сала́т из капу́сты (salát iz kapústy) — a salad
  • Russian: капу́стный сала́т (kapústnyj salát) — a salad
  • Slovak: kapustný šalát — a salad
  • Spanish: curtida — a salad
  • Spanish: ensalada de repollo — a salad
  • Turkish: lahana salatası — a salad