Cold-hearted means showing no sympathy for anybody. A cold-hearted decision.
It is a serious accusation, since it says the person could care and does not. Old English already had a word built the same way, which shows how old the image is.
1adjectivecold-heartedShowing no sympathy for anybody.
“The letter was cold-hearted and entirely correct.”
cold-hearted is a quality.
Also accepted in games: hard-hearted
Cold plus hearted; Old English had cealdheort with the same meaning.
From cold heart + -ed, equivalent to cold + hearted. Compare Old English ċealdheort (“cold-hearted”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA