Cock-A-Doodle-Doo
/ˌkɒk.əˌduː.dəlˈduː/noun
A conventional English representation of a rooster’s crow.
Did you know?Unlike words with ancient roots, this one is an imitative nursery form: English speakers shaped it to sound like a crow, and similar rooster calls in other languages show how cultures “translate” animal sounds differently.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
cock-a-doodle-doo
“An onomatopoeic imitation of a rooster’s crow”
19th Century
English
cock-a-doodle-doo
“Established as the standard English rendering of a rooster’s cry”
Early Modern English
English
cock
“Rooster; the male bird’s call was associated with dawn”
Old English
English
cocc
“Male chicken, rooster”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*kukkaz
“Rooster, male chicken”