This week’s theme
Words that sound dirty, but aren’t

This week’s words
autogamy
nudifidian
titman
cocky

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KOK-ee)

MEANING:

adjective: Brashly confident.

ETYMOLOGY:

From cock, from Old English cocc (rooster). Earliest documented use: 1549.

NOTES:

If you’ve ever heard a rooster strutting its stuff and crowing like it owns the barnyard, you’ll understand how the word cocky means what it means. Once used to describe a lecherous man, it now refers to someone with arrogance turned up to eleven. Think of it as the verbal equivalent to a rooster with its chest puffed out and a strut that says, “Yeah, I’m all that.” Also see: cockalorum, cock-a-hoop, and cock of the walk.

USAGE:

“‘We were so cocky, because we were so popular,’ [Randall] Park said.”
Hua Hsu; Late Shift; The New Yorker; Feb 27, 2023.

See more usage examples of cocky in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: