cuckold

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English

Ca. 1815 French satire on cuckoldry, which shows both men and women wearing horns.

Etymology

From Middle English cokolde, cokewold, cockewold, kukwald, kukeweld, from Old French cucuault; a compound of cucu (“cuckoo”) (some varieties of the cuckoo bird lay their eggs in another’s nest) and Old French -auld. Cucu is either a directly derived onomatopoeic derivative of the cuckoo's call, or from Latin cucūlus. Latin cucūlus is a compound of onomatopoeic cucu (compare Late Latin cucus) and the diminutive suffix -ulus. -auld is from Frankish *-wald (similar suffixes are used in some personal names within other Germanic languages as well; confer English Harold, for instance), a suffixal use of Frankish *wald (“power, mastery, dominion”), from Proto-Germanic *waldą (“might, power, authority”) (compare German Gewalt), from *waldaną (“to rule”), from Proto-Indo-European *wal- (“to be strong”). Appears in Middle English in noun form circa 1250 as cokewald. First known use of the verb form is 1589.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -əʊld
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkʌk.əʊld/, /ˈkʌk.əld/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkʌk.oʊld/, /ˈkʌk.əld/

Noun

cuckold (plural cuckolds)

  1. A man married to an unfaithful wife, especially when he is unaware or unaccepting of the fact.
    Synonyms: cornuto, cuck; see also Thesaurus:cuckold
    Coordinate terms: cuckquean; see also Thesaurus:cuckquean
    • 1546, François Rabelais, The Third Book, Chapter 36
      If I never marry, I shall never be a cuckold.
    • 2001, Goran V. Stanivukovic, Ovid and the Renaissance Body, page 178:
      In the early English drama, no play better approximates Ovid's contemptuous portrait of the willing cuckold than does Thomas Middleton's Chaste Maid in Cheapside (ca. 1612).
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:cuckold.
  2. (zoology) A West Indian plectognath fish, Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template..
  3. (zoology) The scrawled cowfish, Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template. and allied species.

Synonyms

  • (Rhinesomus triqueter): Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template., smooth trunkfish

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

cuckold (third-person singular simple present cuckolds, present participle cuckolding, simple past and past participle cuckolded)

  1. (transitive) To make a cuckold or cuckquean of someone by being unfaithful, or by seducing their partner or spouse.
    Synonyms: cuck, horn, hornify; see also Thesaurus:cuckoldize

Translations

Further reading

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