cuckoo

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Any of various birds, of the family Cuculidae within the order Cuculiformes, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially a common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), that has a characteristic two-note call.
2. (countable, uncountable) The sound of that particular bird.
3. (countable, uncountable) The bird-shaped figure found in cuckoo clocks.
4. (countable, uncountable) The cuckoo clock itself.
5. (countable, uncountable) A person who inveigles themselves into a place where they should not be (used especially in the phrase a cuckoo in the nest).
6. (countable, slang, uncountable) Someone who is crazy.
7. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable) Alternative form of coo-coo (Barbadian food).

Verb

1. To make the call of a cuckoo.
2. To repeat something incessantly.
3. (UK) To take over the home of a vulnerable person for the purposes of carrying out organized crime in a concealed way.

Adj

Crazy; not sane.

Synonyms

crazy

common cuckoo

goof

turtledove

batty

jackass

nutty

gaper

gawk

zany

nuts

goose

🪿

coo-coo

fathead

mad

bozo

twat

goofball

distraught

dolt

dullard

easy

fool

foolish

fruity

gowk

harp

haywire

insane

kook

loafer

loco

loony

loopy

madding

madwoman

maniac

maniacal

oaf

pelican

rhododendron

roller

screwball

shrike

wacko

bowknot

kind of pigeon

meshuggeneh

out of one’s mind

rainbird

Translations

coucou

Kuckuck

cuculo

koekoek

cuco

cucut

cuculus

κούκος

cucù

cuco

cuclillo

guguk

coguol

وقواق

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkʊk.uː/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cokkou

Cognate with French: coucou

Cognate with Middle English: ȝek

In summary

From Middle English cokkou, kokkow, cukkuk, gokkouȝ, probably from Old French cocu, coquu, cucu (whence French coucou); ultimately onomatopoeic of the song of the male Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), perhaps via Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”).
Compare dialectal English gowkoo (“cuckoo”). Displaced Middle English gnokken (“cuckoo”) and native Middle English yeke, ȝek (from Old English ġēac (“cuckoo”)), see English gowk.
The UK sense is by analogy from the bird's practice of brood parasitism.