cockatrice
/ˈkɒkətɹaɪs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.72 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A monster with a lethal gaze or breath, originally believed to originate from a cock egg brooded over by a snake or toad, later specifically combining serpentine and landfowl features and particularly (heraldry) a rooster-headed wyvern.
Example Sentences
- "Vp on the eddere and the kokatrice thou shalt go"
- "A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde... and ȝif any venemous worme sittiþ on broode þerevppon in þe canyculer dayes, þerof is igendrid... a cocatrice."
- "“Peace reigns in happy Luxor. The lion lies down with the lamb, and the child, if it will, may harmlessly put its hand into the cockatrice’s den.”"
- "... this little cockatrice of a king ..."
- "I have intruded because this situation is intolerable. You are either a poisonous cockatrice or a witling, and you have brought Mr. Goodwin to a desperate pass."
Etymology
From Middle English cocatrice, from Old French cocatriz (“basilisk, cockatrice”), from Late Latin calcātrīx (“female trampler, treader”), from Latin calcāre (“to trample, to walk upon, to oppress”) + -trīx (“-ess: forming feminine agentives”), from calx (“heel”). Its eventual association with poultry influenced by cock (“rooster, male chicken”), q.v.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: cocatrice, cocatriz, calcātrīx, calcō