coco

See also: Appendix:Variations of "coco"

English

Alternative forms

• cocoa (now nonstandard)

Etymology

From Portuguese/Spanish coco (“grinning face”) (due to the three holes in the shell resembling a human face). Doublet of coque.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊ.kəʊ/
• (US) enPR: kōʹkō, IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊ.koʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊkəʊ
• Homophone: cocoa

Noun

coco (plural cocos or cocoes)

1. Coconut palm.
   • 1992, Frances Temple, Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti‎^[1], page 52:

     I turn round and round to see the high mountains, the thick coco trees.

2. Coconut, the fruit of the coconut palm.
   • 1625, Samuel Purchas, “Their Cocos and other fruits and food, their Trades and trading, Creatures profitable and hurtfull. Of Male their principall Iland. Their Houſes, Candou, Languages, Apparell.”, in Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. In Five Bookes. [...] The Second Part., volume II, London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Rose, →OCLC, page 1643 [sic: 1653]:

     They boyle it alſo, and after dry it and bray it, and of this bran, with egges, hony, milke, and butter of Cocos, they make Florentines, and verie good belly-timber.

   • 1813, John Adams, “A Voyage to South America”, in John Pinkerton, editor, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World‎^[2], page 355:

     The coco is a very common fruit, and but little esteemed; […]

   • 2007, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's Caribbean 2008‎^[3], →ISBN, page 468:

     You might opt for a heaping tower composed of fried oysters, coco-flavored shrimp, fried octopus, and calamari.

Derived terms

• coco bread
• coconut
• coco palm
• coco peat
• I should coco
• malanga coco

 

Related terms

• coco-de-mer

See also

• cocoa (cacao, altered by confusion with coco)

Amis

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *susu. Compare Indonesian susu, Fijian sucu, Tagalog suso, Tongan huhu and Hawaiian ū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsu.tsu/

Noun

coco

1. (anatomy) breast

References

“Entry #”, in 阿美語中部方言辭典 [Dictionary of the Central Dialect of Amis]‎^[4] (in Chinese), Taiwan: Council of Indigenous Peoples, 2021

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish coco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈko.ku]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [ˈko.ko]

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. coconut

Derived terms

• cocotar
• cocoter

Further reading

• “coco” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

The name is ultimately from the appearance of a face in the coconut shell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ko.ko/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Etymology 1

From Middle French coche, coco, from Italian cocco and Spanish coco, both from Portuguese coco. The fruit was originally referred to by the Spanish equivalent of croque-mitaine (“bogeyman”), due to the spooky face-like appearance of the three dots at the end of the shell, which developed in coco.

As in English, the fruit was originally referred to as coco (in the 16th century), but in the 17th (as in English) it became usual to refer to it as a nut, in the form noix de coco (“coconut”).

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. Fruit of the coconut palm, also called noix de coco
2. a kind of bean
3. (slang) Motor fuel

   Synonym: carburant

4. (dated) a type of licorice drink, by analogy with coconut milk

Hypernyms

• (bean): haricot

Derived terms

• lait de coco
• noix de coco

Etymology 2

Duplication of initial co-, from communiste.

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (informal) Commie

Etymology 3

Duplication of initial co-, from cocaïne.

Noun

coco f (plural cocos)

1. (slang) cocaine

Etymology 4

Perhaps by contraction of cocorico (“cock-a-doodle-do”).

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (informal, dated, childish) egg

   Synonym: œuf

Etymology 5

Noun

coco m or f by sense (plural cocos)

1. (informal) friendly, joking term for a friend; pal, mate, buddy

   Salut, coco !

   G’day mate!

2. (informal, derogatory) aggressive, disdainful term of address, usually preceded by mon, ma, or mes. Roughly punk or buddy, as in “You wanna try, punk?”, or “Hey buddy, what do you think you’re doing?”

   Toi, mon coco, tu vas passer un sale quart d’heure !

   You, buddy, are going to have a miserable quarter hour!

   Vous ne perdez rien pour attendre, mes cocos !

   You’re not losing anything by waiting, punks!

Further reading

• “coco”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin coccum (“berry; gall; insect; scarlet dye”), from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos, “grain, seed, berry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔko̝/, /ˈkoko̝/

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. bogeyman
2. oak gall
3. coconut
4. bug; worm

   Synonyms: becho, bicho, verme

Derived terms

• coco de luz (“glowworm”)

References

• “coco” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “coco” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “coco” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Latin

Etymology 1

Verb

cocō (present infinitive cocere, perfect active coxī, supine coctum); third conjugation (Late Latin)

1. Alternative form of coquō (“cook”) (attested from the third century CE)

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: coc, cocu
  • Romanian: coace
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: cuocere
  • Neapolitan: còce
  • Sicilian: còciri
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: còchere, còere, coi, còiri, còghere
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Ligurian: cheuxe
    • Lombard: coeuser
    • Piedmontese: cheuse
  • Friulian: cuei
  • Romansch: coier, cuer, cuir, couscher
  • Venetian: còxer, cóxar, cósar
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: couére, couéire, couaire, coire, coïre, couèjer, cuèjer
  • Old French: cuire
    • Middle French: cuyre, cuire
      • French: cuire
        • → Esperanto: kuiri
    • Norman: cuire (Guernsey), tchuithe (Jersey)
    • Walloon: cure
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: coure
  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: cueire, cueure

    Gascon: còser, còder, còier, còire

    Languedocien: còire, cuòire, cuèire, quèire, coire, còser, cuòser

    Limousin: cueire, cuòser, còuser

    Provençal: còire, coire, cueire

    Vivaro-Alpine: coire, cueire, cuire, cuere

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: cozer
  • Asturian: cocer
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: cozer
    • Galician: cocer
    • Portuguese: cozer
  • Old Spanish: cozer
    • Ladino: kozer
    • Spanish: cocer
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: kuq
  • → Proto-West Germanic: *kokōn (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.koː/, [ˈkɔkoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.ko/, [ˈkɔːko]

Noun

cocō

1. dative/ablative singular of cocus

Further reading

• “coco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• coco in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Manchu

Romanization

coco

1. Romanization of ᠴᠣᠴᠣ (coco)

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Compare French coco.

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (Jersey, informal) egg, eggy

Derived terms

• cocotchi (“eggcup”)

Portuguese

Etymology 1

coco

Probably from Late Latin coccum (“kernel, seed”), from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos). Doublet of coque.

Alternative forms

• côco (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈko.ku/

• Rhymes: -oku
• Hyphenation: co‧co

• Audio (BR)

  (file)

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. coconut (fruit of coco palm)
2. (informal) head
3. (informal, vulgar) testicle
4. (Brazil, dance) popular dance from Alagoas
   • 1957, “Que coco é esse”, performed by Marinês:

     Que coco é esse / Eu já estou com vontade de dançar

     What a coconut dance this is / I'm already in the mood to dance

Derived terms

• água de coco
• cocada
• cocal
• cocão
• coco seco
• coco verde
• coco-da-bahia
• coqueiro
• coquinho
• leite de coco

 

Descendants

• → English: coco
• → Italian: cocco
  • → Middle French: coche
    • French: coco
• → Spanish: coco, coca, cucuy, cuco, cuca, cucu, cucuí
  • → English: coco
  • → Middle French: coco
    • French: coco

Etymology 2

coco

Learned borrowing from New Latin coccus, from Late Latin coccum, from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.ku/

• Rhymes: -ɔku
• Hyphenation: co‧co

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (bacteriology) coccus

Related terms

• diplococo
• estafilococo
• estreptococo
• gonococo
• meningococo
• pneumococo

 

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Japanese 石 (koku).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.ku/

• Rhymes: -ɔku
• Hyphenation: co‧co

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (historical) koku

References

• “coconut”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Further reading

• “coco” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “coco” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

coco (1)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkoko/ [ˈko.ko]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oko
• Syllabification: co‧co

Etymology 1

From sense 2 (“skull, head”), because of the resemblance of the fruit to a grinning face.

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. coconut
2. (colloquial, Chile) testicle
3. (colloquial, Peru) US dollars

Derived terms

• aceite de coco
• agua de coco
• coco de Indias
• coco de Levante
• coco rallado
• cocotal
• cocotero
• comecocos
• leche de coco
• mal del coco
• nata de coco
• palma de coco
• quemacocos
• vino de coco

 

Descendants

• → English: coco
• → Middle French: coco
  • French: coco

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Portuguese côco (“bogeyman, grinning face”), probably from Latin coccum (“kernel, seed”).

Alternative forms

• coca, cucuy, cuco, cuca, cucu, cucuí

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

2. (folklore) bogeyman

   Synonym: hombre del saco

   • Duérmete niño, duérmete ya… que viene el coco y te comerá.

     Sleep child, sleep now… lest the bogeyman come and eat you.

3. (colloquial) brain; head

Etymology 3

From Latin coccum.

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. (entomology) weevil

   Synonym: gorgojo

2. (bacteriology) coccus

   Synonym: micrococo

3. (Dominican Republic) Wood stork (Mycteria americana)

Derived terms

• diplococo
• estafilococo
• estreptococo
• gonococo
• meningococo
• micrococo
• neumococo

 

Further reading

• “coco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN