English
cock
Cock comes from Middle English cok ‘rooster, cock’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *kukkaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kukkazreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kokk‘cock, rooster, chicken’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cocc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cok‘rooster, cock’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1398cock
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kukkazreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kokk‘cock, rooster, chicken’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cocc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cok‘rooster, cock’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1398cock
Earliest quotation: a. 1398, John Trevisa, Vol. I: “A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde...…”
The story
Reinforced by Old French coc, from the same origin. The sense "penis" is attested since at least the 1610s, with the compound pillicock (‘penis’) attested since 1325.
Every English word from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz
Another origin of cock
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gew-‘to bend, curve, arch’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kukkaz‘mass, bulge, swelling’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kokk‘cock, rooster, chicken’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*cocc‘heap, pile’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cokke
- Englishtodaycock
From Middle English cokke, cock, cok, from Old English *cocc (“heap, pile”, attested in place names), from Proto-West Germanic *kokk, from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz (‘mass, bulge, swelling’), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (‘to bend, curve, arch’).
Another origin of cock
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400coque‘a type of small boat’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cok‘cockboat’
- Englishtodaycock
Today it means
noun A male bird, especially: A rooster: a male gallinaceous bird, especially a male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kukkaz / cock