cockney

noun

cock·​ney ˈkäk-nē 

plural cockneys

1

obsolete

a

: a spoiled child

b

: a squeamish woman

2

often capitalized

a

: a native of London and especially of the East End of London

b

: the dialect of London or of the East End of London

cockney adjective

cockneyfy

ˈkäk-ni-ˌfī 

transitive verb

cockneyish

ˈkäk-nē-ish 

adjective

cockneyism

ˈkäk-nē-ˌi-zəm 

noun

Examples of cockney in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her over-the-top cockney accent speaking in melodramatic dialogue drives much of the comedy in her performance, which ultimately wears thin over the course of the film’s brief runtime. —Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 25 Jan. 2025

Lily O’Neil brings traditional British comedy tropes — the cockney accent, the bustling busybody gestures — to the maid Emmy, to good advantage, though the production has problems bringing that type of comic energy to any other scenes. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 27 Mar. 2024

Cocky, cockney, and constantly beset by everyday duties, this (along with Alfie the following year) is the birth of Michael Caine the everyman superstar. —Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2024

The series, which doesn’t make reference to the film or feature any of the characters from it, stars Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, Joely Richardson and the cockney’s cockney Ray Winstone. —Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English cokeney, literally, cocks' egg, from coken (genitive plural of cok cock) + ey egg, from Old English ǣg

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

cockney

noun

cock·​ney ˈkäk-nē 

plural cockneys

often capitalized

1

: a native of London and especially of the East End of London

2

: the dialect spoken by the cockneys

cockney adjective