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
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While the sight of Lamia carrying around the proud cockerel has the makings of an image straight out of a children’s tale, nothing in the little girl’s life has storybook qualities. Tomris Laffly, Variety, 19 May 2025 Charlotte tracked down that eccentric French fan, and son of a veteran from the Foreign Legion, Clement Tomaszewski, who has been bringing a cockerel named Balthazar Recommandato (there have been 35 Balthazars) into stadiums for four decades. The Athletic Uk Staff, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024 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

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cockerel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockerel. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.

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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