cockroach

English

Etymology

From Spanish cucaracha, from cuca (“butterfly caterpillars”), of onomatopoeic origin; see also Greek κόκκυξ (kókkux) and Late Latin cucus. Influenced, by means of folk etymology, by cock and roach. Doublet of cucaracha.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑkɹoʊt͡ʃ/, (nonstandard) /ˈkɑkəɹoʊt͡ʃ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒkɹəʊt͡ʃ/
Audio (US): (file)

Noun

cockroach (plural cockroaches)

Any black or brown straight-winged insect of the order Blattodea that is not a termite.
Synonym: (US) roach
- 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 121:
  Then there were cockroach hunts; we chased them out of their haunts, where at night they busily devoured currants, jam, and sugar; in fact their diet was far more varied than ours, for they made plentiful meals off our boots, the coverings of our books, and any stray pieces of flannel that came in their way.
(slang, offensive) A person or a member of a group of people regarded as undesirable and rapidly procreating.
(Australia, slang, derogatory, humorous, especially used in rugby league) A person from New South Wales.
(Australia, slang, obsolete) A hard lump of brown sugar.

Derived terms

Descendants

Bislama: kakros
Tok Pisin: kokoros
→ Maltese: kokroċ

Translations

type of insect

Afrikaans: kakkerlak
Alabama: iskanpatha
Albanian: kacabu (sq)
Amharic: በረሮ (bäräro)
Arabic: صُرْصُور m (ṣurṣūr)
Egyptian Arabic: صرصار m (ṣurṣār)

Hijazi Arabic: صرصار m (ṣurṣār), صرصور m (ṣarṣūr)

Iraqi Arabic: صرصر m (ṣurṣur), بنت وردان m (bent wurdān)

Moroccan Arabic: سراق الزيت (sarrāq ez-zīt)

South Levantine Arabic: صرصور m (ṣarṣūr)
Aragonese: cucaracho m
Armenian: ուտիճ (hy) (utič), խավարասեր (hy) (xavaraser)
Assamese: পঁইতাচোৰা (põitasüra)
Asturian: cucaracha f
Azerbaijani: tarakan, mətbəxböcəyi, mətbəxqurdu
Bangi: mpese
Bashkir: тараҡан (taraqan)
Basque: labezomorro
Bau Bidayuh: ribabie
Belait: katibung
Belarusian: тарака́н m (tarakán), пруса́к m (prusák)
Bengali: তেলাপোকা (bn) (telapōka), আরশুলা (arśula)
Berber:
Tashelhit: ibnḍr m
Bikol Central: ipis (bcl)
Brunei Bisaya: lipos
Brunei Malay: lipas
Bulgarian: хлеба́рка (bg) f (hlebárka)
Burmese: ပိုးဟပ် (my) (pui:hap)
Caac: kaphar
Catalan: escarabat (ca) m, panerola (ca) f
Cebuano: ipos, uk-ok
Central Melanau: belipeh
Chichewa: mphemvu
Chinese:
Cantonese: 曱甴 (gaat⁶ zaat^6-2)

Eastern Min: 虼蚻 (gâ-săk / gáh-săk)

Hakka: 黃蚻 / 黄蚻 (vòng-chha̍t)

Hokkien: 虼蚻 (zh-min-nan) (ka-choa̍h)

Mandarin: 蟑螂 (zh) (zhāngláng), 蜚蠊 (zh) (fěilián), 偷油婆 (zh) (tōuyóupó) (dialectal), 小強 / 小强 (zh) (xiǎoqiáng) (colloquial)

Wu: 蟑螂, 小強 / 小强 (⁵shiau-jian₆)
Crimean Tatar: qoñuz
Czech: šváb (cs) m
Danish: kakerlak (da) c
Dutch: kakkerlak (nl) f, sissende kakkerlak (nl) f
Dzongkha: ཞོ་ལེམ (zho lem)
Esperanto: blato
Estonian: prussakas
Faroese: grótlús f, (colloquial) kakkulakkur m
Finnish: torakka (fi)
Fongbe: kokló, kakalaka (fon)
French: cafard (fr) m, blatte (fr) f, coquerelle (fr) f (Canada)
Galician: carroucha (gl) f, cascuda (gl) f, cascudo m
Georgian: აბანოს ჭია (abanos č̣ia), ტარაკანი (ka) (ṭaraḳani)
German: Schabe (de) f, Kakerlake (de) f
Greek: κατσαρίδα (el) f (katsarída)
Ancient Greek: σίλφη f (sílphē)
Gujarati: વંદો m (vando)
Haitian Creole: blat
Hausa: kyànkyasṑ m
Hebrew: ג׳וּק m (juk), תִּיקָן (he) m (tikan)
Hiligaynon: tanga
Hindi: तिलचट्टा m (tilcaṭṭā), तिलचटा (hi) m (tilacṭā), चपड़ा (hi) m (capṛā)
Hungarian: csótány (hu)
Icelandic: kakkalakki (is) m
Ido: blato (io)
Ilocano: ipes, sipet
Indonesian: kecoak (id), kacoa (id), kecoa (id)
Ingrian: prusakka, tarakkana
Interlingua: blatta
Irish: blatóg f
Italian: blatta (it) f, scarafaggio (it) m
Ivatan: ipues
Japanese: ゴキブリ (ja) (gokiburi)
Kansai: アブラムシ (ja) (abura-mushi)

Kyushu: アマメ (amame)
Javanese: coro (jv)
Kanakanabu: 'atatavaang
Kapampangan: ipas, kasua
Kashmiri: ؤٹِل (vạṭil)
Kazakh: тарақан (taraqan)
Khiamniungan Naga: tākàpkàpnyù
Khmer: កន្លាត (km) (kɑnlaat)
Kikuyu: nyeje
Kimaragang: lipos
Korean: 바퀴 (ko) (bakwi), 바퀴벌레 (ko) (bakwibeolle)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: سیسرک (sîsirk), سیسارک (ckb) (sîsark)

Northern Kurdish: sîsirk (ku) f
Kyrgyz: таракан (ky) (tarakan)
Lao: ສາບ (sāp), ແມງສາບ (mǣng sāp)
Latgalian: brusaks m
Latin: blatta (la) f
Latvian: prusaks, tarakāns m
Lingala: mpese
Lithuanian: tarakonas m
Macedonian: лебарка f (lebarka), бубашваба f (bubašvaba) (non-standard)
Maguindanao: kakaba
Malagasy: kalabe (mg)
Malay: lipas (ms)
Malayalam: പാറ്റ (ml) (pāṟṟa)
Maltese: wirdien m, kokroċ m
Maori: kēkerengū, kokoroihe, papata
Marathi: झुरळ m (jhuraḷ)
Meru: njenje
Minangkabau: lipeh (min)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: жоом (mn) (žoom)

Mongolian: ᠵᠣᠣᠮ᠎ᠠ (ǰoom-a)
Muong: chản, chản chản
Navajo: chʼoshtsoh
Neapolitan: scarrafóne
Nheengatu: arawé
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kakerlakk m

Nynorsk: kakerlakk m
Occitan: barbaròt (oc) m
Okinawan: ひーらー (hīrā), 唐びーらー (とーびーらー, tōbīrā)
Old Tupi: arabé
Ottoman Turkish: حمام بوجكی (hamam böceği)
Paicî: nîîwé
Pangasinan: asipuet
Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} tarave
Pashto: ګړندۍ f (gaṛandǝ́y)
Persian: سوسک (fa) (susk), مادر کیکان (mādar-i kaykān) (Afghanistan)
Plautdietsch: Schaub f
Polish: karaluch (pl) m anim, karakan (pl) m (colloquial), karaczan (pl) m
Portuguese: barata (pt) f, carocha (pt) f
Romanian: gândac (ro) m, libarcă (ro) f, rus (ro) m
Russian: тарака́н (ru) m (tarakán), пруса́к (ru) m (prusák)
Saaroa: 'atatavangʉ
Sambali: ipoh
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бубашва́ба f, жо̏ха̄р m (Croatia)

Roman: bubašvába (sh) f, žȍhār (sh) m (Croatia)
Slovak: šváb (sk) m
Slovene: ščurek (sl) m
Sotho: lephela
Spanish: cucaracha (es) f, jate m (small, Honduras), curiana f, fatula f (large, Puerto Rico)
Sranan Tongo: kakalaka
Sundanese: ᮎᮥᮎᮥᮍᮥᮊ᮪ (cucunguk)
Swahili: mende (sw) class 9/10, kombamwiko (sw)
Swedish: kackerlacka (sv) c
Sylheti: ꠔꠦꠟꠌꠥꠞꠣ (telsura)
Tagal Murut: lipos
Tagalog: ipis
Tajik: нонхӯрак (tg) (nonxürak)
Tamil: கக்கலாத்து (ta) (kakkalāttu), கரப்பான் பூச்சி (karappāṉ pūcci), கரப்பான் (ta) (karappāṉ)
Tatar: таракан (taraqan)
Telugu: బొద్దింక (te) (boddiṅka)
Tetum: barata
Thai: แมลงสาบ (th), สาบ (th) (sàap)
Tibetan: ཤོམ་འབུ (shom 'bu)
Tigrinya: ድዱዕ (dəduʿ)
Tswana: lefele
Turkish: hamam böceği (tr)
Turkmen: saçakçy, tarakan
Tutong: lipos
Uab Meto: iki
Ukrainian: тарга́н m (tarhán), тарака́н m (tarakán), пруса́к m (prusák)
Urdu: تل چٹا m (til caṭṭā)
Uyghur: مايقۇرت (mayqurt)
Uzbek: suvarak (uz), tezgizak (uz), tarakan (uz)
Vietnamese: gián (vi)
Volapük: skaraf
Welsh: chwilen ddu f, blac-pat m
West Coast Bajau: bobok
Wolof: mbóot mi (wo)
Yiddish: טאַראַקאַן (tarakan), רוס m (rus), פּרוסאַק m (prusak), קנײַפּער m (knayper), פֿראַנצויז m (frantsoyz), שוואַב m (shvab)
Zazaki: nankewerık
Zhuang: sap
ǃXóõ: gúle