Spanish

Proper noun

Coco f

1. (Mexico) A diminutive of the female given name María del Socorro.

Synonyms

• Choco

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊ.kəʊ/
• (US) enPR: kōʹkō, IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊ.koʊ/
• Homophone: cocoa

Noun

coco ‎(plural cocos)

1. 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.

2. 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 63012317, 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 and Danforth Prince, Frommer's Caribbean 2008, ISBN 0470145633, page 468:

     You might opt for a heaping tower composed of fried oysters, coco-flavored shrimp, fried octopus, and calamari.

References

1. ↑ “coco” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

French

Name is ultimately from the appearance of a face in the coconut shell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koko/
• Rhymes: -o

Etymology 1

Italian, from Spanish. 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)

1. Fruit of the coconut palm, also called noix de coco
2. A kind of bean.
3. (slang) Motor fuel.
4. (dated) A type of licorice drink, by analogy with coconut milk.

Synonyms

• (fuel): carburant

Hypernyms

• (bean): haricot

Derived terms

• noix de coco

Etymology 2

Duplication of initial co-

Noun

coco m, f ‎(plural cocos)

1. (informal) Commie (masculine)
2. (slang) cocaine (feminine)

Etymology 3

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

Noun

coco m ‎(plural cocos)

1. (informal, dated) infantile name for egg

Synonyms

• (egg): œuf

Etymology 4

Noun

coco m, f ‎(plural cocos)

1. (informal) Friendly, joking term for a friend; pal, mate, buddy.

   Salut, coco !‎

   G’day mate!

2. (informal, pejorative) 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!

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.koː/, [ˈkɔ.koː]

Verb

cocō ‎(present infinitive cocere, perfect active coxī, supine coctum); third conjugation

1. Alternative form of coquō

Inflection

Noun

cocō

1. dative singular of cocus
2. ablative singular of cocus

References

• 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, 1883–1887)

Norman

Etymology

Compare French coco.

Noun

coco m ‎(plural cocos)

1. (Jersey, informal) egg, eggy

Derived terms

• cocotchi ‎(“eggcup”)

Portuguese

coco

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈko.ku/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈko.ko/

Noun

coco m (plural cocos)

1. coconut (fruit of coco palm)

Related terms

• coqueiro
• água-de-coco

Spanish

coco

Noun

coco m ‎(plural cocos)

1. coconut
2. (colloquial) head (because of a slight resemblance to a head); brain
3. (colloquial, Chile) testicle
4. bogeyman
5. (bacteriology) coccus

Synonyms

• (bogeyman): cuco

Related terms

• cocotero (1)
• cocotal (1)
• mal de coco