cocuyo

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Taíno *kokuyo.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /koˈkuʝo/ [koˈku.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): /koˈkuʝo/ [koˈku.ʝo] (everywhere but Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay, northern Mexico, Yucatán and Central America (except Panama))
• IPA^(key): /koˈkuʃo/ [koˈku.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /koˈkuʒo/ [koˈku.ʒo] (elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /koˈkujo/ [koˈku.jo] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

• Rhymes: -uʝo
• Syllabification: co‧cu‧yo

Noun

cocuyo m (plural cocuyos)

1. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) a bioluminescent click beetle of the genus Pyrophorus

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with the unrelated beetle genus Cucujus.

Descendants

• → Translingual: Cucujus

Further reading

• “cocuyo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025