Cock is a common English

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

word for the

human penis In Human body, human anatomy, the penis (; : penises or penes; from the Latin ''pēnis'', initially 'tail') is an external sex organ (intromittent organ) through which males urination, urinate and ejaculation, ejaculate, as Penis, on other anim ...

.Tom Dalzell, and Terry Victor, ''The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'' (2015), p
275-80
Geoffrey Hughes, ''An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World]'' (2015), p
160-67
It is asserted to have been in use as early as 1450. The term has given rise to a wide range of derived terms, such as cockblock, cocksucker, and wikt:cocktease, cocktease, and is also often invoked in

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

s involving words and phrases that contain the phoneme but without originating from the slang term, such as

cockfighting Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term ...

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

cocktail A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic beverage, alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more liquor, spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, Shrub (drink), shrubs, and ...

, and

cock a doodle doo "Cock a Doodle Doo" ( Roud 17770) is an English nursery rhyme. Lyrics The most common modern version is: Cock a doodle doo! My dame has lost her shoe, My master's lost his fiddling stick And knows not what to do.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxfor ...

Etymology

The word can be traced through the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

''cok'', from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''coc'', ''cocc'' ("cock, male bird"), from Proto-West Germanic ''*kokk'', from Proto-Germanic ''*kukkaz'', probably of onomatopoeic origin. It is cognate with

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

''cocke'' (also meaning "cock, male bird") and

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''kokkr''. This is reinforced by the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''coc'', also of imitative origin. Use of the compound term ''pillicock'' to refer to the penis is attested since 1325. Because "cock" is susceptible to numerous centuries-old meanings, it is "difficult to pinpoint the first clear use of the phallic sense", though the slang usage is generally understood to be related to the sense of a "male farmyard fowl". Other senses that appear to derive from the same origin include that of a valve or tap for controlling water flow in plumbing, and the hammer of a firearm trigger mechanism, both of which allow for semantic similarities to acts involving the penis. Two instances of the use of "cock" in the works of William Shakespeare are thought to be double entendres for the phallic sense, one being in the 1594 play ''The Taming of the Shrew'', where Petruchio describes his Crest (heraldry), crest as "a combless cock", and another in the 1599 play, ''

Henry VI, Part 2 ''Henry VI, Part 2'' (1591) is a Shakespearean history play about King Henry VI of England's inability to quell the bickering of his noblemen, the death of his trusted advisor Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and the political rise of Richard of ...

'', where a character named "Pistol" declares, "Pistol's cock is up".

Derived terms

"Cock" has given rise to a wide array of derived terms, such as "cockhound" for a promiscuous male, "cocksucker" for a person who performs

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

on a man (or "cocksucking" for the act itself), and "cocktease" for a person who sexually arouses a man without providing sexual release.

Cockblock

Cockblock (also cock-block or cock block) is a US slang term for an action, whether intentional or not, that prevents someone else from having

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

. Such behavior is said to be motivated by

jealousy Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of Emotional insecurity, insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, he ...

competitiveness Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

, although it is sometimes accidental or inadvertent. The term is also used (or the term "cockblocker") for a person who engages in such obstruction or intervention. Social research has documented norms among male peer groups that view "cockblock" behavior as negative, which may make men less likely to challenge each other's behavior or impede sexual access to women, sometimes even in cases of possible sexual assault or

intimate partner violence Intimate partner violence (IPV) is domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. IPV can take a number of forms, including physical abuse, physical, verbal abuse, verb ...

. The term appears to date at least to 1972, when Edith Folb documented its use by urban Black teenagers in the United States.

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. She is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on th ...

uses the phrase in the 1999 film ''

Lost & Found A lost and found (American English) or lost property (British English), or lost articles (also Canadian English) is an office in a public building or area where people can go to retrieve lost articles that may have been found by others. Freq ...

''. The 2007 film ''

Superbad ''Superbad'' is a 2007 American coming-of-age teen buddy comedy film directed by Greg Mottola, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and produced by Judd Apatow. It stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as Seth and Evan, two teenagers about ...

'' also references cockblocking, with one character counseling against it.

Cocksucker

Cocksucker, and cocksucking as both an adjective and a noun, refer to the act of

, and historically have particularly been used in connection with the performance of this act as a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

act. ''

The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'' is a dictionary of slang originally compiled by the noted lexicographer of the English language Eric Partridge. The first edition was published in 1937 and seven editions were eventually publis ...

'' traces both the descriptive usage of "cocksucker" and the adjectival form of "cocksucking" to 1865 in the United States. It further traces the use of "cocksucker" as a "generalised term of abuse" to 1918 in the United States, and cites to uses of both terms in print in the 1950s by writers including

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, and

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

. "Cocksucker" was one of the

seven dirty words The seven dirty words are seven English language profanity words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. The words, in the order Carlin listed them, are: " shit", " ...

that American comedian

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...

first listed in his famous 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television"

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

. Carlin noted in the monologue that "cock" alone was ambiguous and also had inoffensive meanings, while "cocksucker" did not. At the time that Carlin originated the act, "cocksucker" was used almost exclusively as an insult towards men implying that they performed homosexual acts. Carlin also noted in his comedy routine that the term was not used with respect to the practice of fellatio by females, stating: "For some reason, now cocksucker means bad man. It's a good woman". Another comedian,

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of come ...

, was arrested for using the word in his act in the 1960s.

References

{{reflist Sex- and gender-related slurs Seduction Slang terms for sex organs Penis English profanity English words Pejorative terms for men

Etymology

Derived terms

Cockblock

Cocksucker

See also

References