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cuckoo

Pronunciation: /ˈkʊkuː/

The English word “cuckoo” has 10 meanings listed here.

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.

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.

adjective

  1. Crazy; not sane.

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”)),…

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