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.
   • 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.
3. A vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].
4. (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

• 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)
• 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) (môyurô)
• 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)
• Venetian: 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.

See also

• pajock