# coco
## English
### Alternative forms

* cocoa (now nonstandard)

### Etymology

From Portuguese/Spanish coco (“grinning face”) (due to the three holes in the shell resembling a human face). Doublet of coque.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkəʊ.kəʊ/
* (US) enPR: kōʹkō, IPA: /ˈkoʊ.koʊ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊkəʊ
* Homophone: cocoa

### Noun

coco (plural cocos or cocoes)
* Coconut palm.
** 1992, Frances Temple, Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti‎, page 52:I turn round and round to see the high mountains, the thick coco trees.
* Coconut, the fruit of the coconut palm.
** 1625, Samuel Purchas, “Their Cocos and other fruits and food, their Trades and trading, Creatures profitable and hurtfull. Of Male their principall Iland. Their Houſes, Candou, Languages, Apparell.”, in Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. In Five Bookes. [...] The Second Part., volume II, London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Rose, →OCLC, page 1643 [sic: 1653]:They boyle it alſo, and after dry it and bray it, and of this bran, with egges, hony, milke, and butter of Cocos, they make Florentines, and verie good belly-timber.
** 1813, John Adams, “A Voyage to South America”, in John Pinkerton, editor, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World‎, page 355:The coco is a very common fruit, and but little esteemed; […]
** 2007, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's Caribbean 2008‎, →ISBN, page 468:You might opt for a heaping tower composed of fried oysters, coco-flavored shrimp, fried octopus, and calamari.

#### Derived terms

* cocamide
* cocamidopropyl
* coco bread
* cocomat
* coconut
* coco palm
* cocopeat
* coco peat
* coco plum
* cocoyam
* I should coco
* malanga coco

#### Related terms

* coco-de-mer

### See also

* cocoa (cacao, altered by confusion with coco)

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “coco”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Amis
### Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *susu. Compare Indonesian susu, Fijian sucu, Tagalog suso, Tongan huhu and Hawaiian ū.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tsu.tsu/

### Noun

coco
* (anatomy) breast

### References

“Entry #”, in 阿美語中部方言辭典 [Dictionary of the Central Dialect of Amis]‎ (in Chinese), Taiwan: Council of Indigenous Peoples, 2021

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish coco.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ˈko.ku]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈko.ko]
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* coconut

#### Derived terms

* cocotar
* cocoter

### Further reading

* “coco” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ko.ko/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -o

### Etymology 1

From Middle French coche, coco, from Italian cocco and Spanish coco, both from Portuguese coco. The fruit was originally referred to by the Spanish equivalent of croque-mitaine (“bogeyman”), due to the spooky face-like appearance of the three dots at the end of the shell, which developed in coco.
As in English, the fruit was originally referred to as coco (in the 16th century), but in the 17th (as in English) it became usual to refer to it as a nut, in the form noix de coco (“coconut”).

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* Fruit of the coconut palm, also called noix de coco
* a kind of bean
* (slang) Motor fuel
    Synonym: carburant
* (dated) a type of licorice drink, by analogy with coconut milk

##### Hypernyms

* (bean): haricot

##### Derived terms

* lait de coco
* noix de coco

### Etymology 2

Duplication of initial co-, from communiste.

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (informal) Commie

### Etymology 3

Duplication of initial co-, from cocaïne.

#### Noun

coco f (plural cocos)
* (slang) cocaine

### Etymology 4

Perhaps by contraction of cocorico (“cock-a-doodle-do”).

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (informal, dated, childish) egg
    Synonym: œuf

### Etymology 5
#### Noun

coco m or f by sense (plural cocos)
* (informal) friendly, joking term for a friend; pal, mate, buddy
    Salut, coco !G’day mate!
* (informal, derogatory) aggressive, disdainful term of address, usually preceded by mon, ma, or mes. Roughly punk or buddy, as in “You wanna try, punk?”, or “Hey buddy, what do you think you’re doing?”
    Toi, mon coco, tu vas passer un sale quart d’heure !You, buddy, are going to have a miserable quarter hour!
    Vous ne perdez rien pour attendre, mes cocos !You’re not losing anything by waiting, punks!

### Further reading

* “coco”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Galician
### Etymology

From Latin coccum (“berry; gall; insect; scarlet dye”), from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos, “grain, seed, berry”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɔko/ [ˈkɔ.kʊ]
** Rhymes: -ɔko
* IPA: /ˈkoko/ [ˈko.kʊ]
** Rhymes: -oko
* Hyphenation: co‧co

### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* bogeyman
* oak gall
* coconut
* bug; worm
    Synonyms: becho, bicho, verme

#### Derived terms

* coco de luz (“glowworm”)

### References

* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “coco”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “coco”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “coco”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
* ↑ Rivas Quintas, Eligio (2015). Dicionario etimolóxico da lingua galega. Santiago de Compostela: Tórculo. →ISBN, s.v. coco.

## Latin
### Etymology 1
#### Verb

cocō (present infinitive cocere, perfect active coxī, supine coctum); third conjugation (Late Latin)
* Alternative form of coquō (“cook”) (attested from the third century CE)

##### Descendants

* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: coc, cocu
** Romanian: coace
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: cuocere
** Neapolitan: còcere
** Sicilian: còciri
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: còchere, còere, coi, còiri, còghere
* North Italian:
** Gallo-Italic:
*** Ligurian: cheuxe
*** Lombard: coeuser
*** Piedmontese: cheuse
** Friulian: cuei
** Romansch: coier, cuer, cuir, couscher
** Venetan: còxer, cóxar, cósar
* Gallo-Romance:
** Franco-Provençal: couére, couéire, couaire, coire, coïre, couèjer, cuèjer
** Old French: cuire
*** Middle French: cuyre, cuire
**** French: cuire
***** → Esperanto: kuiri
*** Norman: cuire (Guernsey), tchuithe (Jersey)
*** Walloon: cure
* Occitano-Romance:
** Catalan: coure
** Occitan:
    Auvergnat: cueire, cueure
    Gascon: còser, còder, còier, còire
    Languedocien: còire, cuòire, cuèire, quèire, coire, còser, cuòser
    Limousin: cueire, cuòser, còuser
    Provençal: còire, coire, cueire
    Vivaro-Alpine: coire, cueire, cuire, cuere
* Ibero-Romance:
** Aragonese: cozer
** Asturian: cocer
** Old Galician-Portuguese: cozer
*** Galician: cocer
*** Portuguese: cozer
** Old Spanish: cozer
*** Ladino: kozer
*** Spanish: cocer
* Borrowings:
** → Albanian: kuq
** → Proto-West Germanic: *kokōn (see there for further descendants)

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈko.koː/, [ˈkɔkoː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈko.ko/, [ˈkɔːko]

#### Noun

cocō
* dative/ablative singular of cocus

### References

* ↑ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cŏquĕre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 1167

### Further reading

* “coco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* "coco", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Manchu
### Romanization

coco
* Romanization of ᠴᠣᠴᠣ (coco)

## Norman
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Compare French coco.

### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (Jersey, informal) egg, eggy

#### Derived terms

* cocotchi (“eggcup”)

## Portuguese
### Etymology 1

Probably from Late Latin coccum (“kernel, seed”), from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos). Doublet of coque.

#### Alternative forms

* côco (pre-reform spelling or misspelling)

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈko.ku/
* Rhymes: -oku
* Hyphenation: co‧co
* Audio (Brazil):(file)

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* coconut (fruit of coco palm)
* (informal) head
* (informal, vulgar) testicle
* (Brazil, dance) popular dance from Alagoas
** 1957, “Que coco é esse”, performed by Marinês:Que coco é esse / Eu já estou com vontade de dançarWhat a coconut dance this is / I'm already in the mood to dance

##### Derived terms

* água de coco
* cocada
* cocal
* cocão
* coco seco
* coco verde
* coco-da-bahia
* coqueiro
* coquinho
* leite de coco

##### Descendants

* → English: coco
* → Italian: cocco
** → Middle French: coche
*** French: coco
* → Spanish: coco, coca, cucuy, cuco, cuca, cucu, cucuí
** → English: coco
** → Middle French: coco
*** French: coco

### Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from New Latin coccus, from Late Latin coccum, from Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɔ.ku/
* Rhymes: -ɔku
* Hyphenation: co‧co
* Audio (Brazil):(file)

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (bacteriology) coccus

##### Related terms

* diplococo
* estafilococo
* estreptococo
* gonococo
* meningococo
* pneumococo

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Japanese 石 (koku).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɔ.ku/
* Rhymes: -ɔku
* Hyphenation: co‧co

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (historical) koku

### References

* “coconut”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

### Further reading

* “coco”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
* “coco”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkoko/ [ˈko.ko]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -oko
* Syllabification: co‧co

### Etymology 1

From sense 2 (“skull, head”), because of the resemblance of the fruit to a grinning face.

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* coconut
* (colloquial, Chile) testicle
* (colloquial, Peru) US dollars

##### Derived terms

* aceite de coco
* agua de coco
* coco de Indias
* coco de Levante
* coco rallado
* cocotal
* cocotero
* comecocos
* coquito
* leche de coco
* mal del coco
* nata de coco
* palma de coco
* quemacocos
* vino de coco

##### Descendants

* → English: coco
* → Middle French: coco
** French: coco

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Portuguese côco (“bogeyman, grinning face”), probably from Latin coccum (“kernel, seed”).

#### Alternative forms

* coca, cucuy, cuco, cuca, cucu, cucuí

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (folklore) bogeyman
    Synonym: hombre del saco
** Duérmete niño, duérmete ya… que viene el coco y te comerá.Sleep child, sleep now… lest the bogeyman come and eat you.
* (colloquial) brain; head

### Etymology 3

From Latin coccum.

#### Noun

coco m (plural cocos)
* (entomology) weevil
    Synonym: gorgojo
* (bacteriology) coccus
    Synonym: micrococo
* (Dominican Republic) Wood stork (Mycteria americana)

##### Derived terms

* diplococo
* estafilococo
* estreptococo
* gonococo
* meningococo
* micrococo
* neumococo

### Further reading

* “coco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
* Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN