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peacock

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peacock¹

  • /ˈpikɑk/ US
  • /ˈpiːkɒk/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English pecok, pekok, pocok, pacok, first component from Old English pēa, pāwa (“peacock, peafowl”), ultimately from Latin pāvō; equivalent to pea + cock. Compare Old Norse páfugl (“peacock”, literally “peafowl”), and English peahen, peachick, etc.

noun peacocks

  1. countable, usually A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail. 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. countable, usually A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.
  3. uncountable, usually The meat of this bird. When a reader recently inquired if people really eat peacock, I stated that I’d never tasted the bird, roasted or otherwise, and as far as I knew, it is rarely cooked anywhere in the world.
  4. countable, usually A pompous or vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].

    Similar: turkey-cock

  5. countable, usually Any of various Asian species of papilionid butterflies of the genus Papilio. The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty anyth

Similar: peafowl

verb peacocks · peacocking · peacocked

  1. intransitive To strut about proudly or haughtily. 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?”
  2. intransitive To engage in peacocking, ostentatious dress or behaviour to impress women.

Peacock²

Where it comes from

From peacock, a nickname for a vain and conceited person.

proper noun Peacocks · Pocock

  1. countable, uncountable A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. countable, uncountable A township in Lake County, Michigan, United States.
  3. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Stonewall County, Texas, United States.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: peacock butterfly, inachis io, herl, pub, cage, que, pavo cristatus, indian peafowl, blue peafowl, cock, peafowl, pavo, swell, clotheshorse, poseur, poser

noun

Similar: peafowl

Translations

Every language

noun pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo

Españolpavo real, pavorreal, pavo ruan, pavón
한국어공작 gongjak
日本語孔雀 kujaku, ピーコック pīkokku
中文孔雀 kǒngquè
हिन्दीमोर mor, मयूर mayūr
Kiswahilitausi
Portuguêspavão real, pavão
Françaispaon, paonne
DeutschPfau, Pfauhahn
Italianopavone
Ελληνικάπαγώνι pagóni
Românăpăun
Русскийпавли́н pavlín, па́ва páva
Tiếng Việtcông
العربيةطَاوُوس ṭāwūs
עבריתטווס, טַוָּס tavás

verb to strut about proudly or haughtily

Françaisse pavaner

verb to engage in peacocking

Françaisfaire le beau, pavoiser

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{peacock_2026,
  title = {peacock},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/peacock},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}