A salad made from chopped raw cabbage mixed with a creamy or vinegary dressing, typically served cold as a side dish.
From Dutch 'koolsla' (kool = cabbage, sla = salad); the 'cold' was added in English to emphasize the dish is served chilled, though originally it simply meant 'cabbage salad' regardless of temperature.
The Dutch brought this dish to America in the 1600s, and English speakers misheard 'koolsla' as two words, then added 'cold' to explain why cabbage salad would be served that way—a perfect example of folk etymology reshaping a borrowed word!
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