coco

English

Etymology

From Spanish/Portuguese coco (“grinning face”) (due to the three holes in the shell resembling a human face).

Noun

coco (plural cocos)

1. Coconut palm.
   • 1992, Frances Temple, Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti^[1], page 52:

     I turn round and round to see the high mountains, the thick coco trees.

2. Coconut, the fruit of the coconut palm.
   • 1813, John Adams, “A Voyage to South America”, in John Pinkerton editor, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World^[2], page 355:

     The coco is a very common fruit, and but little esteemed; […]

   • 2007, Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Frommer's Caribbean 2008^[3], ISBN 0470145633, page 468:

     You might opt for a heaping tower composed of fried oysters, coco-flavored shrimp, fried octopus, and calamari.

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French

Name is ultimately from the appearance of a face in the coconut shell.

Etymology 1

Italian, from Spanish. The fruit was originally referred to by the Spanish equivalent of croque-mitaine (“bogeyman”), due to the spooky face-like appearance of the three dots at the end of the shell, which developed in coco.

As in English, the fruit was originally referred to as coco (in the 16th century), but in the 17th (as in English) it became usual to refer to it as a nut, in the form noix de coco (“coconut”).

Noun

coco m. (plural cocos)

1. Fruit of the coconut palm, also called noix de coco
2. A kind of bean.
3. (slang) Motor fuel.
4. (dated) A type of licorice drink, by analogy with coconut milk.

Synonyms

• (fuel): carburant

Hypernyms

• (bean): haricot

Derived terms

• noix de coco

Etymology 2

Duplication of initial co-

Noun

coco m. and f. (plural cocos)

1. (informal) Communist (masculine)
2. (slang) cocaine (feminine)

Etymology 3

Perhaps by contraction of cocorico (“cock-a-doodle-do”).

Noun

coco m. (plural cocos)

1. (informal, dated) infantile name for egg

Synonyms

• (egg): œuf

Etymology 4

Noun

coco m. and f. (plural cocos)

1. (informal) Friendly, joking term for a friend; pal, mate, buddy.

   Salut, coco !

   G’day mate!

2. (informal, pejorative) Aggressive, disdainful term of address, usually preceded by mon, ma, or mes. Roughly punk or buddy, as in “You wanna try, punk?”, or “Hey buddy, what do you think you’re doing?”

   Toi, mon coco, tu vas passer un sale quart d’heure !

   You, buddy, are going to have a miserable quarter hour!

   Vous ne perdez rien pour attendre, mes cocos !

   You’re not losing anything by waiting, punks!

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Latin

Verb

present active cocō, present infinitive cocere, perfect active coxī, supine coctum.

1. Alternative form of coquō.

Inflection

Third Conjugation

indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	cocō	cocis	cocit	cocimus	cocitis	cocunt
	future	cocam	cocēs	cocet	cocēmus	cocētis	cocent
	imperfect	cocēbam	cocēbās	cocēbat	cocēbāmus	cocēbātis	cocēbant
	perfect	coxī	coxistī	coxit	coximus	coxistis	coxērunt
	future perfect	coxerō	coxeris	coxerit	coxerimus	coxeritis	coxerint
	pluperfect	coxeram	coxerās	coxerat	coxerāmus	coxerātis	coxerant
passive	present	cocor	coceris	cocitur	cocimur	cociminī	cocuntur
	future	cocar	cocēris	cocētur	cocēmur	cocēminī	cocentur
	imperfect	cocēbar	cocēbāris	cocēbātur	cocēbāmur	cocēbāminī	cocēbantur
	perfect	Use coctus m., cocta f., coctum n. followed by the present indicative of sum.
	future perfect	Use coctus m., cocta f., coctum n. followed by the future indicative of sum.
	pluperfect	Use coctus m., cocta f., coctum n. followed by the imperfect indicative of sum.
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	cocam	cocās	cocat	cocāmus	cocātis	cocant
	imperfect	cocerem	cocerēs	coceret	cocerēmus	cocerētis	cocerent
	perfect	coxerim	coxerīs	coxerit	coxerīmus	coxerītis	coxerint
	pluperfect	coxissem	coxissēs	coxisset	coxissēmus	coxissētis	coxissent
passive	present	cocar	cocāris	cocātur	cocāmur	cocāminī	cocantur
	imperfect	cocerer	cocerēris	cocerētur	cocerēmur	cocerēminī	cocerentur
	perfect	Use coctus m., cocta f., coctum n. followed by the present subjunctive of sum.
	pluperfect	Use coctus m., cocta f., coctum n. followed by the imperfect subjunctive of sum.
imperatives		active			passive
		present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)	present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)
	singular	coce	cocitō	cocitō	cocere	cocitor	cocitor
	plural	cocite	cocitōte	cocuntō	cociminī	—	cocuntor
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		cocere	coxisse	coctūrus esse	cocī	coctus esse	coctum īrī
participles		cocēns (cocentis)	—	coctūrus-ra, -rum	—	coctus-a, -um	cocendus-nda, -ndum

Noun

cocō

1. dative singular of cocus
2. ablative singular of cocus

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈko.ku/
• (South Brazil) IPA: /ˈko.ko/

Noun

coco m. (plural cocos)

1. coconut (fruit of coco palm)

Related terms

• coqueiro, água-de-coco

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Spanish

Noun

coco m. (plural cocos)

1. coconut
2. (colloquial) head (because of a slight resemblance to a head); brain
3. (colloquial, Chile) testicle

Related terms

• cocotero (1)
• cocotal (1)