coo

See also: Coo, COO, côo, and co-o

English

WOTD – 2 February 2018

Pronunciation

Pigeons in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. The sound made by these birds is usually described as a coo.

• enPR: ko͞o
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kuː/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ku/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophone: coup

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic; compare Dutch koeren.

Noun

coo (plural coos)

1. The murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon.
   • 1979, Mei-Fang Cheng, “Progress and Prospects in Ring Dove Research: A Personal View”, in Jay S[eth] Rosenblatt, Robert A[ubrey] Hinde, Colin Beer, Marie-Claire Busnel, editors, Advances in the Study of Behavior, volume 9, New York, N.Y., London: Academic Press, →ISBN, section III (Hormones and Behavior: Lehrman’s Hypotheses), page 99:

     The male [ring dove] will continue nest-coos for 3–4 days until his female partner begins to nest-coo. At that point the male's nest-coo begins to become less frequent […].

2. (by extension) An expression of pleasure made by a person.
   • 2001, Denton L. Roberts, Caddy Roberts-Williams, “What You Need to Know to Be Useful”, in Living as Healer: (Everyone Does Therapy and Should … Know How), Pasadena, Calif.: Hope Publishing House, →ISBN, page 23:

     An infant has only cries and coos with which to communicate distress and well-being. Adults have many more ways of expressing themselves. However, their expressions of disease and ease can be boiled down to sophisticated cries and coos. A call for help in whatever form is a cry. A sense of well-being however expressed is a coo. Healing in the context of cries and coos can be viewed as the process of resolving the cries and fostering the coos.

Derived terms

• coochy coo
• coo-coo
• cootchie-cootchie-coo

 

Translations

murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon

• Arabic: قَرْقَرَة f (qarqara), مُنَاغَاة f (munāḡāh), هَدِيل (ar) m (hadīl)
• Bulgarian: гукане n (gukane)
• Catalan: parrup (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 咕 (zh) (gū)

• Czech: vrkot m
• Dutch: koeren (nl) ? (nominalized), roekoe (nl) n
• Esperanto: kvero (eo)
• Finnish: kujerrus
• French: roucoulement (fr) m
• Galician: arrolo m
• German: Gurren (de) n, Girren n
• Greek: γουργούρισμα (el) n (gourgoúrisma)
• Icelandic: kurr (is) n
• Italian: cuccu m
• Macedonian: гу́гут m (gúgut), гу́гање n (gúganje), гу́кање n (gúkanje), гугу́кање n (gugúkanje), гугу́тење n (gugútenje)
• Ngazidja Comorian: dji class 5/6
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kurr n

• Polish: gruchanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: arrulho (pt) m
• Russian: воркова́ние (ru) n (vorkovánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: dùrdail m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гу̏гӯт m, гугутање ?

  Roman: gȕgūt (sh) m, gugutanje ?

• Spanish: arrullo (es) m
• Swedish: kutter (sv) n
• Vietnamese: gù (vi)

Verb

coo (third-person singular simple present coos, present participle cooing, simple past and past participle cooed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a soft murmuring sound, as a pigeon.
   • 1763, C[harles] Churchill, The Prophecy of Famine. A Scots Pastoral, 2nd edition, London: Printed for the author, and sold by G. Kearsly, in Ludgate-street, →OCLC, page 15:

     No birds, except as birds of paſſage, flew, / No bee was known to hum, no dove to coo.

   • [1784?], [John] O'Keeffe, Songs, Duets, and Chorusses, in the New Musical Farce of Peeping Tom of Coventry. As Performed at the Theatre Royal, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 4:

     DUET—MAYOR and MAUD. […] Like a Dove I'll coo and bill, pretty Maud, / I will not coo and bill, Mr. Mayor.

   • 1784, Voltaire, “Memoirs of Voltaire. Written by Himself. Part the Third”, in Memoirs of the Life of Voltaire. Written by Himself. Translated from the French, Dublin: Printed for Messrs. Moncrieffe, Walker, Exshaw, Wilson, Jenkin, Burton, White, Byrne, Marchbank, Cash, and Heery, →OCLC, page 176:

     But oh! ſhall I, Misfortune's bondman, ſpeak / Of pleaſures and delights, where ſorrows ſhriek! / Can plaintive nightingale, or turte-dove, / When vultures tear them, ſing or coo of love?

   • 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto III. The Gathering.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza II, page 99:

     The black-bird and the speckled thrush / Good-morrow gave from brake and brush; / In answer cooed the cushat dove, / Her notes of peace, and rest, and love.

   • 1896, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “The Doves Sat upon the Window-ledge and Lowly Cooed and Cooed”, in A Lady of Quality: Being a Most Curious, hitherto Unknown History, as Related by Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff but Not Presented to the World of Fashion through the Pages of The Tatler, and Now for the First Time Written Down, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC, page 360:

     Then did her soft breath stop and she lay still, her eyes yet open and smiling at the blossoms and the doves who sat upon the window-ledge and lowly cooed and cooed.

   • 2014 June 26, A. A Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler spoof rom-com clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 November 2017:

     As Norah Jones coos sweet nothings on the soundtrack, the happy couple—played by Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler—canoodle through a Manhattan montage, making pasta for two, swimming through a pile of autumn leaves, and horsing around at a fruit stand.

2. (intransitive) To speak in an admiring fashion, to be enthusiastic about.
   • 2013, Nicola Cornick, chapter 14, in One Night with the Laird (Harlequin HQN Historical Romance), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin HQN, →ISBN:

     They were too busy cooing over the baby and his parents were too busy cooing over each other.

Derived terms

• bill and coo
• cooer
• cooingly
• cooingly
• en

 

Translations

to make a soft murmuring sound

• Arabic: هَدَلَ (ar) (hadala)
• Bulgarian: гукам (gukam)
• Catalan: parrupar (ca)
• Czech: vrkat (cs)
• Dutch: koeren (nl), roekoeën (nl)
• Esperanto: kveri (eo), rukuli
• Finnish: kujertaa (fi)
• French: roucouler (fr)
• Galician: arrolar (gl)
• German: girren (de), gurren (de), rucksen, turteln (de), brabbeln (de)
• Greek: γουργουρίζω (el) (gourgourízo)

  Ancient Greek: γογγύζω (gongúzō), τρύζω (trúzō), λαρύνω (larúnō)

• Hungarian: burukkol (hu)
• Icelandic: kurr (is), hjala ljúflega, hvísla blíðuorðum
• Ido: rukular (io)
• Italian: grugare, tubare (it), tortoreggiare
• Macedonian: гу́га (gúga), гу́гнува (gúgnuva), гу́ка (gúka), гу́кнува (gúknuva), гу́гути (gúguti)
• Maori: kū, tumu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kurre

• Polish: gruchać (pl) impf, gruchnąć pf
• Portuguese: arrulhar (pt)
• Russian: воркова́ть (ru) (vorkovátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèan dùrdail
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гу́кати impf, гугу́тати impf, те̏пати impf

  Roman: gúkati (sh) impf, gugútati (sh) impf, tȅpati (sh) impf

• Slovak: hrkútať impf, zahrkútať pf
• Spanish: arrullar (es)
• Swedish: kuttra (sv)
• Turkish: kuğurmak (tr)

to speak in an admiring fashion

• Czech: vrkat (cs)

Etymology 2

Clipping of cool; compare foo.

Adjective

coo (comparative more coo, superlative most coo)

1. (slang) Cool.

Etymology 3

Imitative.

Interjection

coo

1. An expression of approval, fright, surprise, etc. [from early 20th c.]
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     I stood outside the door for a space, letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would", as Jeeves tells me cats do in adages, then turned the handle softly, pushed – also softly – and, carrying on into the interior, found myself confronted by a girl in housemaid's costume who put a hand to her throat like somebody in a play and leaped several inches in the direction of the ceiling. "Coo!" she said, having returned to terra firma and taken aboard a spot of breath. "You gave me a start, sir!" […] "If you cast an eye on him, you will see that he's asleep now." "Coo! So he is."

   • 1988 November, Sean Kelly, “Professional BMX Simulator [video game review]”, in Teresa Maughan, editor, Your Sinclair‎^[2], number 35, London: Sportscene Specialist Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 May 2016:

     The last track on each of the three sections is a professional course, where you can customise your bike by changing the tyres and the size of chainwheel. Coo!

   • 1989 November, “Competitions”, in Jim Douglas, editor, Sinclair User: The Independent Magazine for the Independent User‎^[3], number 92, London: ECC Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2013:

     We want you to come up with a side splitting caption for a picture drawn by the fair hand of those at System 3. If you turn out to be the Funniest "Person", we'll give you a big wopping model of a dinosaur. Coo.

   • 1990 April, “Crash Readers’ Awards Ceremony”, in Oliver Frey, editor, Crash: ZX Spectrum‎^[4], number 75, [Ludlow, Shropshire]: Newsfield, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 June 2017:

     Coo, I've only had four gallons of extra caffeine coffee today so I'm not my usual talking-to-PR-girlies-for-hours-on-end self. But bear with me a mo while I get myself together (audience waits for an age while he searches through his coat for the golden envelope). Here it is! Coo, and the winner is The NewZealand Story.

Anagrams

• OCO, OOC

Galician

Verb

coo

1. first-person singular present indicative of coar

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish cú (“dog, hound”), from Primitive Irish ᚉᚒᚅᚐ (cuna, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *kū, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”).

Noun

coo m (genitive singular coo, plural coyin)

1. dog

   Synonym: moddey

2. hound
3. cur
4. wolf dog

Derived terms

• coo brock
• coo conveyrt
• coo feeaih, coo feeaihee
• coo folley
• coo glass
• coo keyrragh
• coo liauyr
• coo muigey
• coo ny marrey
• coo Rooshagh
• coo shynnagh
• coo-bwoirryn

 

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
coo	choo	goo
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cú”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• côo (obsolete)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈko.u/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈko.u/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈko.o/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈko.u/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈko.u/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈko(w).u/

• Rhymes: -ou
• Hyphenation: co‧o

Verb

coo

1. first-person singular present indicative of coar

San Juan Colorado Mixtec

Etymology

From Proto-Mixtec *kòòʔ.

Noun

còò

1. snake
2. worm

Derived terms

• coo caa
• coo cuiya
• coo iñi
• coo ndaha
• coo sɨquɨ
• coo tuun
• coo yutyi
• coñi

 

References

• Stark Campbell, Sara, et al. (1986) Diccionario mixteco de San Juan Colorado (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 29)‎^[5] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 9

Scots

Alternative forms

• coe, cou

Etymology

From Old English cū, from Proto-West Germanic *kō (“cow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

Noun

coo (plural kye or coos)

1. cow

Usage notes

The regular collective plural form is kye (from Old English); the weak plural coos is used only after numerals.

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃoː/

Verb

coo

1. (transitive) Alternative form of co (“to see”)

Conjugation

Conjugation of coo (action verb)
		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tocoo	mocoo	acoo
2nd person		nocoo	focoo
3rd person	inanimate	icoo	docoo
	animate
imperative		nocoo, coo	focoo, coo

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[6], Pacific linguistics