chanticleer

English

Etymology

an illustration from the tale of Chanticleer and the Fox

From Middle English Chauntecleer, from Old French Chantecler (modern French Chanteclair), the proper name of the cock in the literary cycle of Reynard the Fox, that also gave origin to chantecler, the name of a chicken breed; from chanter (“to sing, to crow”) + cler (“clear, clearly”).
Attested in English since 1250–1300.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑːntɪˌklɪə/, enPR: chänʹtĭklĭr'
• (US) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃæntəˌklɪɹ/, /ˈʃæntəˌklɪɹ/, enPR: chănʹtəklĭr', shănʹtəklĭr'
• Hyphenation: chan‧ti‧cleer

Noun

chanticleer (plural chanticleers)

1. (now rare, literary) A domestic rooster or cock, especially in fables and fairy tales.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It‎^[1], act 2, scene 7:

     When I did hear / The motley fool, thus moral on the time, / My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, / That fools should be so deep-contemplative […].

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     It is happily some particular sense that unto cockes or chanticleares discovereth the morning and midnight houre, and moveth them to crow […].

Verb

chanticleer (third-person singular simple present chanticleers, present participle chanticleering, simple past and past participle chanticleered)

1. To make the crowing sound of a cock.
2. To crow in exultation.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “chanticleer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “chanticleer”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “chanticleer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “chanticleer”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.