# Cockney

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈkɒk.ni/ · frequency rank #38,336

## Definitions
1. From the East End of London, or London generally.
2. Of or relating to people from this area or their speech style.

## Etymology
First attested in Samuel Rowland's 1600 The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine as "a Bowe-bell Cockney", from Middle English cokenay (“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”), used in the 16th c. by English country folk as a term of disparagement for city dwellers, of uncertain etymology. Possibly from Middle English cokeney (“a small, misshapen egg”), from coken (“cocks'(rooster’s)”) + ey (“egg”) or from Cockney and Cocknay, variants of Cockaigne, a mythical land of luxury (first attested in 1305) eventually used as a humorous epithet of London. Compare cocker (“to spoil a child”).

## Easily confused with
- **cocky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cockney-vs-cocky)
- **Coney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cockney-vs-coney)
- **Cooney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cockney-vs-cooney)
- **cocked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cocked-vs-cockney)
- **cocker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cocker-vs-cockney)

## Common misspellings (11)
`ccockney`, `ccokney`, `cocckney`, `cockeny`, `cockkney`, `cockneyy`, `cocknney`, `cocknye`, `cocnkey`, `cokcney`, `occkney`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cockney