cockcrow

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cockcrow

Where it comes from

From Middle English cok crowe (also as cokkes crowe), equivalent to cock + crow. Likely a suppletive variation of Old English hancrǣd (“cockcrow, dawn”, literally “cock-crowing”), from hana (“cock, rooster”) + crǣd (“crowing”).

noun cockcrows · cock-crow

countable, uncountable The time of day at which the first crow of a cockerel is heard; dawn or daybreak; first light. The unfortunate shepherd that approaches them must dance their rounds with them till cock-crow; and the instances are not few of persons thus ensnared who have been found next morning dead with exhaustion and fatigue.
Similar: break of day, sunup, sparrow-fart

Translations

Every language

noun dawn

Deutsch	Hahnenschrei

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MLA

"cockcrow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cockcrow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cockcrow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cockcrow

Chicago

"cockcrow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cockcrow.

BibTeX

@misc{cockcrow_2026,
  title = {cockcrow},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cockcrow},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}