cockney

[ kok-nee ]
/ ˈkɒk ni /

noun, plural cock·neys.

(sometimes initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the East End district of London, England, traditionally, one born and reared within the sound of Bow bells.
(sometimes initial capital letter) the pronunciation or dialect of cockneys.
Obsolete.
  1. a pampered child.
  2. a squeamish, affected, or effeminate person.

adjective

(sometimes initial capital letter) of or relating to cockneys or their dialect.

Origin of cockney

1325–75; Middle English cokeney foolish person, literally, cock's egg (i.e., malformed egg), equivalent to coken, genitive plural of cokcock1 + ey,Old English æg; cognate with German Ei,Old Norse eggegg1

OTHER WORDS FROM cockney

cock·ney·ish, adjectivecock·ney·ish·ly, adverb

Words nearby cockney

cockleert, cockler, cockleshell, cockles of one's heart, cockloft, cockney, cockney bream, cockneyfy, cockneyism, cock-of-the-rock, cock of the walk
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for cockney

British Dictionary definitions for cockney

cockney
/ (ˈkɒknɪ) /

noun

(often capital) a native of London, esp of the working class born in the East End, speaking a characteristic dialect of English. Traditionally defined as someone born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church
the urban dialect of London or its East End
Australian a young snapper fish

adjective

characteristic of cockneys or their dialect of English

Derived forms of cockney

cockneyish, adjective

Word Origin for cockney

C14: from cokeney, literally: cock's egg, later applied contemptuously to townsmen, from cokene, genitive plural of cok cock 1 + ey egg 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012