cock of the walk

noun

"cock-of-the-walk" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cock of the walk” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A proud or conceited person.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cock-of-the-walk · cock of the walk · English

cock of the walk · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 16 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for cock of the walk
PropertyValue
Headwordcock of the walk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cock of the walk” in English

cock of the walkfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cock of the walk is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A proud or conceited person.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for cock of the walk in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is cock of the walk, spelled C-O-C-K- -O-F- -T-H-E- -W-A-L-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    A proud or conceited person.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cock of the walk appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. c. 19th century, J. M. Crofts (attributed), The Irish Rover With his smart witty talk He was cock of the walk And he rolled the dames under and over
  2. "That fellow was not born yesterday. He is the cock of the walk here," said Peter; "I shouldn't wonder if it is our old friend himself." Three more birds came in, and as each took up his roosting place, the old bird repeated his challenge by snapping his beak at them.

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

How do you spell "cock of the walk"?
"cock of the walk" is spelled C-O-C-K- -O-F- -T-H-E- -W-A-L-K.
What does "cock of the walk" mean?
As a noun, "cock of the walk" means: A proud or conceited person.
What language does "cock of the walk" come from?
"cock of the walk" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list