cuckoo

CEFRB1

/ˈkʊkuː/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A bird known for laying eggs in other birds' nests.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Crazy or foolish; informal.

Examples

  • "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is one of my favorite movies.

  • People call this kind of bird a cuckoo.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /ˈkɵkʉw/
  • /ˈkuku/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The bird-shaped figure found in cuckoo clocks.

  2. The sound of that particular bird.

  3. 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.

More examples

In context

  • Have you ever seen a cuckoo?

  • I think I'm going cuckoo!

  • He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, / By the bad voice.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank bird is known for its distinctive two-note call.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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)