cockatoo

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cockatoo" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cockatoo” is uncommon English (frequency #51,617 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,617
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved beak and a zygodactyl foot.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cockatoo · cockatoo · English

cockatoo · rank #51,617 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,617
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH coaxing

Nearest frequency peer: coaxing (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “cockatoo”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “cockatoo” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cockatoo
PropertyValue
Headwordcockatoo
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#51,617
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cockatoo” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).cockatoofalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “coaxing” (#51,616), “clostridium” (#51,615), “Colm” (#51,619). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cockatoo” is #51,617. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cockatoo is uncommon English at frequency #51,617 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for cockatoo in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Dutch kaketoe, borrowed from Malay kakaktua, kakatua. Spelling influenced by cock. The correct English form is cockatoo, spelled C-O-C-K-A-T-O-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved beak and a zygodactyl foot.
  2. 2
    A lookout posted during a two-up game, when gambling was illegal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. We saw some cockatoos in the aviary.

Etymology

From Dutch kaketoe, borrowed from Malay kakaktua, kakatua. Spelling influenced by cock.

Synonyms

cocky

This word in other languages

cacatúa(Español)cacatoès(Français)Kakadu(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cockatoo"?
"cockatoo" is spelled C-O-C-K-A-T-O-O.
What does "cockatoo" mean?
As a noun, "cockatoo" means: A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved beak and a zygodactyl foot.
What is the origin of the word "cockatoo"?
From Dutch kaketoe, borrowed from Malay kakaktua, kakatua. Spelling influenced by cock. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cockatoo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

catalyze#51,602Carvajal#51,600carnaval#51,598camellia#51,593

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list