Coss
/kɒs/noun
An obsolete or historical Indian unit of distance, varying regionally but commonly estimated at roughly 1.5 to 2 miles.
Did you know?The coss entered English through colonial-era accounts of India, where its length varied substantially by region rather than functioning as a perfectly fixed unit.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
krośa
“A cry, shout, or the distance over which a shout could be heard”
Classical Sanskrit
Sanskrit
krośa
“A traditional Indian distance measure, associated with the range of a call”
Medieval Indo-Aryan
Prakrit
kosa
“A distance measure descended from Sanskrit krośa”
Medieval Hindi
Hindi
kos
“A traditional Indian unit of distance”
17th–19th Century
Anglo-Indian English
coss
“An English rendering of the Indian distance measure kos”
Modern English
English
coss
“A historical Indian measure of distance, usually estimated at about 1.5–2 miles”