cock-and-bull story
"cock-and-bull-story" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cock-and-bull story” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cock-and-bull story |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cock-and-bull story” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
cock-and-bull story is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for cock-and-bull story in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown. The phrase is noted as similar in meaning and form to French coq-à-l'âne (“satire, incoherent story”, literally “cock to the ass”) which was borrowed into Scots as cockalane. theories of origin Theories of the term's ultimate origin include allusio… The correct English form is cock-and-bull story, spelled C-O-C-K---A-N-D---B-U-L-L- -S-T-O-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.
Etymology
Unknown. The phrase is noted as similar in meaning and form to French coq-à-l'âne (“satire, incoherent story”, literally “cock to the ass”) which was borrowed into Scots as cockalane. theories of origin Theories of the term's ultimate origin include allusions to stories which feature talking animals and that the term refers to gossip typical of what were historically two coaching inns, The Cock and The Bull, in Stony Stratford, England.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cock-and-bull story”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-C-K---A-N-D---B-U-L-L- -S-T-O-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.