cockney
/ˈkɒk.ni/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.77 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A Londoner born within earshot of the city's Bow Bells, or (now generically) any working-class Londoner.
British usage
noun
A native or inhabitant of parts of the East End of London.
adj
Alternative form of Cockney.
Example Sentences
- "COCKNEY, a native of London. An ancient nickname implying effeminacy, used by the oldest English writers, and derived from the imaginary fool's paradise, or lubberland, Cockaygne."
- "Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bell, are in reproach called Cockneys."
- "A Cockney or Cocksie, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London."
- "“Charming place, ma’am,” said he, bowing to the widow; “noble prospect—delightful to us Cocknies, who seldom see anything but Pall Mall.”"
- "Parkinson: You made films before, but the part that really made your name was Zulu, wasn't it […] and there of course—against type—you played the toff, you played the officer. Caine: I played the officer, yeah, and everybody thought I was like that. Everyone was so shocked when they met me, this like Cockney guy had played this toffee-nosed git."
- "A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots."
Etymology
First attested in Samuel Rowland's 1600 The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine as "a Bowe-bell Cockney", from Middle English cokenay (“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”), used in the 16th c. by English country folk as a term of disparagement for city dwellers, of uncertain etymology. Possibly from Middle English cokeney (“a small, misshapen egg”), from coken (“cocks'(rooster’s)”) + ey (“egg”) or from Cockney and Cocknay, variants of Cockaigne, a mythical land of luxury (first attested in 1305) eventually used as a humorous epithet of London. Compare cocker (“to spoil a child”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈkɒk.ni/