Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

real mccoy

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.57 in modern English

Syllables
re-al m-c-coy
IPA
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The genuine thing, neither a substitute nor an imitation.

Dated

Etymology

Corruption of Scots the real MacKay, this latter attested in 1856 as “A drappie o’ the real MacKay” (A drop of the real MacKay). How “MacKay” became “McCoy” is unclear; first attested in the form “McCoy” in the US in 1908. The term is the subject of many folk etymologies, discussed at the Wikipedia entry.

Word Breakdown

Usage

Inflected Forms

the real McCoy (canonical) real McKoy (alternative) real Macoy (alternative)

Synonyms

real deal real thing real stuff

Questions

What does real mccoy mean?
The genuine thing, neither a substitute nor an imitation.
Where does real mccoy come from?
Corruption of Scots the real MacKay, this latter attested in 1856 as “A drappie o’ the real MacKay” (A drop of the real MacKay). How “MacKay” became “McCoy” is unclear; first attested in the form “McCoy” in the US in 1908. The term is the subject of many folk etymologies, discussed at the Wikipedia entry.

How to pronounce real mccoy

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