cockerel

noun

cock·​er·​el ˈkä-k(ə-)rəl How to pronounce cockerel (audio)
: a young male of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus)

Examples of cockerel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
By Erika Solomon Page A1 The Olympic Flame Melts Parisian Cool There are people walking around the world’s fashion capital with fluffy cockerels on their heads. Matt Flegenheimer Claire Fu David Dee Delgado Mujib Mashal, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2024 There’s an inflatable cockerel, too, and after posing in front of it with her son, a woman briefly stops to talk to The Athletic. Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 1 Aug. 2024 All that work, just to be heartlessly felled like the Bishop Monkton cockerel? Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024 Earlier this year, residents of Bishop Monkton, a village in north Yorkshire, were distressed when a thirty-foot topiary cockerel in a cottage front garden was suddenly felled by the home’s new owner. Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024 The cockerel had grown for more than a century, present for the comings and goings of the village, its births and deaths. Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024 Walton tells me of a favorite feast of 16th century English monarch Henry VIII starring a horrible, mythical creature called a cockentrice—the front half of a baby pig sewn to the legs of a cockerel and roasted—all the more terrifying for guests who at the time believed dragons were real. Maggie Hennessy, Bon Appétit, 16 May 2022 The cockerel, donated to the university in 1905 by the father of a student, is a Benin Bronze, looted during the 1897 British invasion of Benin city, in modern Nigeria, during which British forces burnt down the royal palace among other buildings and stole priceless artifacts. Luke McGee, CNN, 31 Oct. 2021 Each bird looks like it has been sown together from two different chickens down the midline; one half is clearly a cockerel and the other is clearly a hen. Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2010

Word History

Etymology

Middle English cokerelle, from Anglo-French cokerel, diminutive of coc

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cockerel was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near cockerel

Cite this Entry

“Cockerel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockerel. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

cockerel

noun
cock·​er·​el ˈkäk-(ə-)rəl How to pronounce cockerel (audio)
: a young male domestic chicken
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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