peacock

See also: Peacock

English

A peacock.

Etymology

From Middle English pecok, pekok, pocok, pacok, equivalent to pea (“peafowl; peacock”) +‎ cock. Compare Old Norse páfugl (“peacock”, literally “pea-fowl”), and English peahen, peachick, etc.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpikɑk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːkɒk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

peacock (plural peacocks)

1. A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.

   Coordinate term: turkeycock

   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v:

     The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.

2. A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.
4. A pompous or vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].

   Synonym: turkeycock

5. (entomology) Any of various Asian species of papilionid butterflies of the genus Papilio.

Synonyms

• peafowl (ornithology)

Hyponyms

• peachick (“young peafowl”)
• peacock (“male peafowl”)
• peahen (“female peafowl”)

Derived terms

• East Atlantic peacock wrasse
• European peacock
• giant peacock moth
• Indian peacock
• Peacock Alley
• peacock bass
• peacock blue
• peacock butterfly
• peacock chair
• peacock copper
• peacockery
• peacock fish
• peacock flounder
• peacock flower
• peacocking
• peacockish
• peacock jumping spider
• peacock mantis shrimp
• peacock mite
• peacock moth
• peacock ore
• peacock parachute spider
• peacock-pheasant
• peacock pheasant
• peacock spider
• peacock worm
• proud as a peacock

 

Descendants

• → Hawaiian: pīkake
  • → English: pikake
• → Maori: pīkake

Translations

pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo

• Abkhaz: аԥса́ркәты (apsárkʷʼtʼə), аҳ икәты́ (aḥ ikʷʼtʼə́), атата́шь (atʼatʼáš)
• Adyghe: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: pou (af)
• Albanian: pallua (sq) m
• Amharic: ጣዎስ (ṭawos)
• Arabic: طَاوُوس m (ṭāwūs)

  Egyptian Arabic: طاووس m (ṭāwūs)

  Moroccan Arabic: طاووس (ṭāwūs), طاوس (ṭāwis)

• Aramaic: טַוסָא (ṭawsā)

  Classical Syriac: ܛܘܣܐ (ṭawsā)

• Armenian: սիրամարգ (hy) (siramarg)
• Aromanian: pãun m, piunar m, pionel m
• Assamese: ম’ৰা (möra), মৈৰা (moira), ময়ূৰ (moyur)
• Asturian: pavu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: tovuz
• Bashkir: тауис (tawis)
• Basque: pauma
• Belarusian: паўлі́н m (paŭlín), па́ва f (páva) (female)
• Bengali: ময়ূর (bn) (moẏur)
• Bhojpuri: मोर (mōr)
• Breton: paun (br) ?
• Bulgarian: пау́н (bg) m (paún)
• Burmese: ဒေါင်း (my) (daung:)
• Catalan: paó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 孔雀 (hung² zoek³)

  Hokkien: 孔雀 (zh-min-nan) (khóng-chhiok)

  Mandarin: 孔雀 (zh) (kǒngquè)

• Classical Tibetan: རྨ་བྱ (rma bya)
• Czech: páv (cs) m, pávice f (female)
• Danish: påfugl (da) c
• Dutch: pauw (nl) m
• Esperanto: pavo (eo)
• Estonian: paabulind (et)
• Faroese: páfuglur m
• Finnish: riikinkukko (fi)
• French: paon (fr) m, paonne (fr) f
• Friulian: pavon m
• Galician: pavón (gl) m
• Georgian: ფარშევანგი (parševangi), ფარშავანგი (paršavangi)

  Old Georgian: ფარშამანგი (paršamangi)

• German: (♂♀) Pfau (de) m, (♂) Pfauhahn m
• Greek: παγώνι (el) n (pagóni)

  Ancient: ταώς m (taṓs), ταών m (taṓn)

• Gujarati: મોર (mor)
• Hawaiian: pīkake
• Hebrew: טווס / טַוָּס (he) m (tavás)
• Hindi: मोर (hi) m (mor), मयूर (hi) m (mayūr)
• Hungarian: páva (hu)
• Icelandic: páfugl m
• Ido: pavono (io)
• Indonesian: merak jantan, merak (id)
• Irish: péacóg (ga) f
• Italian: pavone (it) m
• Japanese: 孔雀 (ja) (くじゃく, kujaku), ピーコック (pīkokku)
• Javanese: merak (jv)
• Kannada: ನವಿಲು (kn) (navilu), ಮಯೂರ (kn) (mayūra), ಕೇಕಿ (kn) (kēki)
• Kazakh: тауыс (tauys)
• Khmer: ក្ងោក (km) (kngaok), មយូរ (km) (mĕəʼyuu), មោរៈ (moorĕəʼ), មយូរី (mĕəʼyuurii) (female)
• Korean: 공작(孔雀) (ko) (gongjak)
• Kumyk: тотукъуш (totuquş), тотуркъуш (toturquş), тавус (tawus)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تاوس (tawis)

  Northern Kurdish: tawis (ku), tawûs (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тоос (ky) (toos), павлин (pavlin)
• Ladin: pavon m
• Lao: ຍູງ (nyūng), ກຸໂງກ (ku ngōk), ມະຍູຣະ (ma nyū ra), ມະຍູລະ (ma nyū la), ສິຂິ (si khi)
• Latin: pāvō (la) m
• Latvian: pāvs m
• Lithuanian: povas (lt) m
• Lombard: pavon m
• Lü: ᦷᦓᧅᦍᦳᧂ (nokyung)
• Luxembourgish: Pohunn (lb) m
• Macedonian: паун m (paun)
• Malay: merak
• Malayalam: മയിൽ (ml) (mayil)
• Maltese: pagun m, tawes m
• Manchu: ᡨᠣᠵᡳᠨ (tojin)
• Manx: kellagh eairkagh m (male only), peacock m, kellagh aalin m
• Maori: pīkake
• Marathi: मोर m (mor)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тогос (mn) (togos)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠣᠭ᠋ᠤᠰ᠋ (toɣus)

• Nepali: मुजुर (mujura), मयूर (mayūra)
• Newar: म्ह्य्‌खा (mhêkhā)
• Norman: paon m
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} pávvuonccis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: påfugl m

  Nynorsk: påfugl m

• Occitan: pavon (oc) m
• Odia: ମୟୂର (or) (mayura)
• Old East Slavic: павъ m (pavŭ)
• Old English: pāwa m
• Old Javanese: mrak
• Old Norse: pái m
• Pali: mora m, mayūra m
• Papiamentu: pòwis
• Pashto: طاووس (ps) m (tāwús), تاووس (ps) m (tāwús), ميور m (myor), کښېدی m (kx̌edáy)
• Persian: طاووس (fa) (tâvus)
• Piedmontese: pavon m
• Polish: paw (pl) m, pawica (pl) f (female)
• Portuguese: pavão real m, pavão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਮੋਰ (mor)
• Romani: pavuno m
• Romanian: păun (ro) m
• Romansch: pavun ?
• Russian: павли́н (ru) m (pavlín), па́ва (ru) f (páva) (female)
• Sanskrit: मयूर (sa) m (mayūra), मयूरी (sa) f (mayūrī)
• Sardinian: baboni ?, pavone ?, pavoni ?, paoni ?, poni ?, paboni ?, paone ?
• Scottish Gaelic: peucag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: па̏ӯн m

  Roman: pȁūn (sh) m

• Shan: ၼူၵ်ႉယုင်း (shn) (nṵ̂uk yúng)
• Sindhi: मोर (mor)
• Slovak: páv (sk) m, pávica (sk) f (female)
• Slovene: pav (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: paw m, pawa f (female)

  Upper Sorbian: paw m

• Southern Altai: тооды куш (toodï kuš), алтын-тогус (altïn-togus), тогус (togus)
• Spanish: pavo real m, pavorreal m
• Swahili: tausi (sw)
• Swedish: påfågel (sv) c
• Tabasaran: тӏавус (ṭavus)
• Tagalog: paboreal
• Tajik: товус (tovus)
• Tamil: மயில் (ta) (mayil), ஞமலி (ta) (ñamali), தோகை (ta) (tōkai)
• Tatar: тавис (tt) (tawis)
• Telugu: నెమలి (te) (nemali)
• Thai: นกยูง (th) (nók yuung), ยูง (th) (yuung), มยูร (th), มยุรา (th), มยุรี (female)
• Tibetan: རྨ་བྱ (rma bya)
• Tigrinya: ጣውስ (ṭaws)
• Turkish: tavus kuşu (tr), tavus (tr)
• Turkmen: tawus
• Ukrainian: пави́ч (uk) m (pavýč), па́ва (uk) f (páva), пави́чка f (pavýčka) (female)
• Urdu: مور m (mor)
• Uyghur: توز (toz)
• Uzbek: tovuq (uz), tovus (uz)
• Venetan: paón
• Vietnamese: công (vi)
• Volapük: paf (vo)
• Welsh: paun m
• West Frisian: pau c
• Yiddish: פּאַווע f (pave)
• Zhuang: gungjcoz, roeggungjcoz

Verb

peacock (third-person singular simple present peacocks, present participle peacocking, simple past and past participle peacocked)

1. (intransitive) To strut about proudly or haughtily.
   • 2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[1]:

     A routine border-check in upstate New York had turned into a back-room interrogation, and I was worried, because the three friends I was traveling with didn’t respond to authority well. I could almost hear the wry grins cracking their faces as the officers peacocked. “Is U.S. Customs a joke to you?” one officer asked. My friend Alex said, “No law against smiling, sir.”

2. (intransitive) To engage in peacocking, ostentatious dress or behaviour to impress women.

Translations

to strut about proudly or haughtily

• French: se pavaner (fr)

to engage in peacocking

• French: faire le beau (fr), pavoiser (fr)

See also

• pajock