cockamamie
/ˌkɒk.əˈmeɪ.mi/
"cockamamie" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cockamamie” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A decal, a design that can be transferred to a surface.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cockamamie · cockamamie · English
cockamamie · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cockamamie |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkɒk.əˈmeɪ.mi/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cockamamie” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cockamamie is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌkɒk.əˈmeɪ.mi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
cockamamie has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possible corruption of French décalcomanie (“process of transferring designs onto surfaces using decals”); sometimes erroneously claimed to derive from Yiddish. The correct English form is cockamamie, spelled C-O-C-K-A-M-A-M-I-E.
Definition
- 1A decal, a design that can be transferred to a surface.
- 2A foolish or ridiculous person.
- 3Ridiculousness; folly; foolish nonsense.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cockamamie appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“If it wuz a nickel,” said one broody voice between the gratings, “I could buy fuh two cends cockamamies an’ pud em on mine hull arm. An’ den fuh t’ree cends I’ll go to duh movies.” “Yuh c’n buy fuh t’ree cends cockamamies.” Izzy crisply revised the dream.
As a youngster in The Bronx in the early 1930s, I would occasionally take my windfall of a few pennies to the local candy store and buy a strip of cockamamies, ‘comic-style cartoons in brilliant colors, each about an inch by an inch and a half, transferable to forearm or forehead by wetting’, preferably with saliva to make things agreeably messy.
Etymology
Possible corruption of French décalcomanie (“process of transferring designs onto surfaces using decals”); sometimes erroneously claimed to derive from Yiddish.
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.