peacock

CEFRB2

/ˈpikɑk/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A male peafowl with a large colorful tail.
02
noun
Extra detail
A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.

Examples

The peacock has a truly gorgeous tail.
The peacock has fair feathers but foul feet.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 2

Also pronounced

/ˈpiːkɒk/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

The meat of this bird.
A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.
A pompous or vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].

More examples

In context

When a reader recently inquired if people really eat peacock, I stated that I’d never tasted the bird, roasted or otherwise, and as far as I knew, it is rarely cooked anywhere in the world.
Nor do many people today long to eat peacock, which was both a privilege and an ordeal reserved for royalty.
Nero, infamous emperor of Rome, built a rotating dining room in which guests could eat peacock while flower petals fluttered down from special panels in the ivory ceiling.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

At the zoo, the colorful blank spread its long tail feathers to attract a mate.

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

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

When a reader recently inquired if people really eat peacock, I stated that I’d never tasted the bird, roasted or otherwise, and as far as I knew, it is rarely cooked anywhere in the world.
1979 April 23, Craig Claiborne, “De Gustibus”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
A routine border-check in upstate New York had turned into a back-room interrogation, and I was worried, because the three friends I was traveling with didn’t respond to authority well. I could almost hear the wry grins cracking their faces as the officers peacocked. “Is U.S. Customs a joke to you?” one officer asked. My friend Alex said, “No law against smiling, sir.”
2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine
The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.
1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v
Nor do many people today long to eat peacock, which was both a privilege and an ordeal reserved for royalty.
1990 December 20, Charles Perry, “The Birds: Fowl Play…”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2026
Nero, infamous emperor of Rome, built a rotating dining room in which guests could eat peacock while flower petals fluttered down from special panels in the ivory ceiling.
2017 September 27, Sam Anderson, “New Sentences: From ‘The New Rules of Coffee’”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Sep 2018

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Origin

noun

From Middle English pecok, pekok, pocok, pacok, first component from Old English pēa, pāwa (“peacock, peafowl”), ultimately from Latin pāvō; equivalent to pea + cock. Compare Old Norse páfugl (“peacock”, literally “peafowl”), and English peahen, peachick, etc.

Deep Dive

noun

More examples

Related

Quick test

At the zoo, the colorful blank— spread its long tail feathers to attract a mate.

Nearby

Origin

noun

At the zoo, the colorful blank spread its long tail feathers to attract a mate.