English Explanatory Dictionary

cuckoo

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of various birds, of the family Cuculidae within the order Cuculiformes, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially a common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), that has a characteristic two-note call.
  2. The sound of that particular bird.
  3. The bird-shaped figure found in cuckoo clocks.
  4. The cuckoo clock itself.
  5. A person who inveigles themselves into a place where they should not be (used especially in the phrase a cuckoo in the nest).
  6. Someone who is crazy.
  7. Alternative form of coo-coo (Barbadian food).
  8. Alternative form of ku ku jiao (the penis)
verb
  1. To make the call of a cuckoo.
  2. To repeat something incessantly.
  3. To take over the home of a vulnerable person for the purposes of carrying out organized crime in a concealed way.
adj
  1. Crazy; not sane.
name
  1. A locality in Dorset council area, north eastern Tasmania, Australia.

Pronunciation

/ˈkʊkuː/ /ˈkɵkʉw/ /ˈkuku/ en-us-cuckoo.ogg /ˈkʉkʉ/

Word forms

cuckoo cuckoos cuckooing cuckooed more cuckoo most cuckoo

Etymology

From Middle English cokkou, kokkow, cukkuk, gokkouȝ, probably from Old French cocu, coquu, cucu (whence French coucou); ultimately onomatopoeic of the song of the male Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), perhaps via Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”). Compare dialectal English gowkoo (“cuckoo”). Displaced Middle English gnokken (“cuckoo”) and native Middle English yeke, ȝek (from Old English ġēac (“cuckoo”)), see English gowk. The UK sense is by analogy from the bird's practice of brood parasitism. The Malaysian and Singaporean sense is a Calque of Hokkien 咕咕鳥 /咕咕鸟 (ku-kú-chiáu)

Synonyms

cuckoo bird ku ku bird parrot

Related words

cuculine

Derived words

African emerald cuckoo Asian emerald cuckoo black cuckoo-shrike brush cuckoo channel-bill cuckoo channel-billed cuckoo cloud cuckoo land cloud cuckoo-land cloud-cuckoo-land cuckoo bee cuckoo bread cuckoo-bread cuckoobud cuckoo catfish cuckoo clock cuckoo cry cuckoo-dove cuckoo dove cuckoo-finch cuckooflower cuckoo hashing cuckoo-hawk cuckoo-pint cuckoo pint cuckoo-roller cuckoo's egg cuckoo shrike cuckooshrike cuckoo sign cuckoo spit cuckoo-spittle cuckoo theory cuckoo wasp drongo cuckoo drongo-cuckoo emerald cuckoo ground cuckoo hawk-cuckoo Jacobin cuckoo lesser cuckoo little bronze cuckoo mangrove cuckoo Maynard's cuckoo pallid cuckoo Philippine cuckoo-dove pied crested cuckoo pied cuckoo red-chested cuckoo rufous-vented ground-cuckoo yellow-billed cuckoo cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs cuckooness

Translations

Estonian: kellakägu Estonian: käokell Estonian: uhhuu Finnish: käki Bulgarian: чалнат Chinese Mandarin: 狂者 French: coucou Hungarian: zakkant Hungarian: lökött Hungarian: buggyant Hungarian: dilis Japanese: 風狂の人 Russian: ку-ку́
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