cockney

[ kok-nee ]

noun,plural cock·neys.
  1. (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.

  2. (sometimes initial capital letter) the pronunciation or dialect of cockneys.

  1. Obsolete.

    • a pampered child.

    • a squeamish, affected, or effeminate person.

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

Origin of cockney

1
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, adjective
  • cock·ney·ish·ly, adverb

Words Nearby cockney

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cockney in a sentence

  • "Come in," said a cockney voice shrill with youth, in answer to her tap; and the child obeyed.

  • Here the Scot entered into explanations which threw the cockney's brain into a complete muddle.

    Friend Mac Donald | Max O'Rell
  • The dank vapours of Covent Garden are sweet in the nostrils of many a cockney reveller.

  • The little cockney children circle around me to get a view from all sides.

    My Wonderful Visit | Charlie Chaplin
  • If he be a cockney soldier he will repeat the word: "'Orspital, mate—lor' luv ye, wish I wuz back!"

    Private Peat | Harold R. Peat

British Dictionary definitions for cockney

cockney

/ (ˈkɒknɪ) /


noun
  1. (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

  2. the urban dialect of London or its East End

  1. Australian a young snapper fish

adjective
  1. characteristic of cockneys or their dialect of English

Origin of cockney

1
C14: from cokeney, literally: cock's egg, later applied contemptuously to townsmen, from cokene, genitive plural of cok cock 1 + ey egg 1

Derived forms of cockney

  • cockneyish, adjective

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