Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cowabunga

/ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.83 in modern English

Syllables: cow-abun-ga
IPA: /ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/

17

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

intj

Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy.

Humorous; Slang

Example Sentences

"Cowabunga, dude!"
"Kowa-Bunga! Then Me Fix You Good! You Be Sorry."
"Shouting the surfer's cry ‘Cowabunga!’ they climb a 12-ft. wall of water and ‘take the drop’ off its shoulder."
"Both words turn up in the same sentence—as in ‘Cowabunga, it's humongous!’—when the children crowd around some toy."

Etymology

Unknown, but was popularized (as Kowa-Bunga) by Chief Thunderthud on the American children's show Howdy Doody in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and became associated with American surfing culture. By the early 1980s, it was used as the catch-phrase of Cookie Monster on the American television show Sesame Street, and gained popularity with a broader audience after its use in the American cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (For further treatment, see here.)

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/
British English: /ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Kowa-Bunga (alternative) cowabonga (alternative) kawabonga (alternative) kowabonga (alternative) kowabunga (alternative)

Synonyms

wow yay

Questions

How do you pronounce cowabunga?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/.
What does cowabunga mean?: Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy.
Where does cowabunga come from?: Unknown, but was popularized (as Kowa-Bunga) by Chief Thunderthud on the American children's show Howdy Doody in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and became associated with American surfing culture. By the early 1980s, it was used as the catch-phrase of Cookie Monster on the American television show Sesame Street, and gained popularity with a broader audience after its use in the American cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (For further treatment, see here.)

How to pronounce cowabunga

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cowabunga”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cowabunga”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cowabunga” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.