English Word Reference Free

cuckoo-hawk

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Detailed reference entry for the English word "cuckoo-hawk", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "cuckoo-hawk" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "cuckoo-hawk" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

The verdict

“cuckoo-hawk” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun — the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

Dominant Wiktionary sense: Either of two African hawks in the genus Aviceda

Compare similar words

See how cuckoo-hawk compares against similar English words.

Browse all word comparisons →
Key facts for cuckoo-hawk
PropertyValue
Headwordcuckoo-hawk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cuckoo-hawk” sits in English frequency

cuckoo-hawk falls 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for cuckoo-hawk is 11 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Either of two African hawks in the genus Aviceda".

No misspelling variants are generated for cuckoo-hawk in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cuckoo + hawk. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is cuckoo-hawk, spelled C-U-C-K-O-O---H-A-W-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Either of two African hawks in the genus Aviceda

Etymology

From cuckoo + hawk.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cuckoo-hawk"?
"cuckoo-hawk" is spelled C-U-C-K-O-O---H-A-W-K.
What does "cuckoo-hawk" mean?
As a noun, "cuckoo-hawk" means: Either of two African hawks in the genus Aviceda
What is the origin of the word "cuckoo-hawk"?
From cuckoo + hawk. 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.

Using “cuckoo-hawk”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-U-C-K-O-O---H-A-W-K — every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

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.