Word of the Day

: April 3, 2020

cocoon

verb kuh-KOON

What It Means

: to wrap or envelop in or as if in a cocoon

cocoon in Context

Lily got out of the water and cocooned herself in a large beach blanket.

"By the time the United States entered World War I, France and England had been battling the Germans, the Turks and the Austro-Hungarians for nearly four years…. America, cocooned by great oceans, saw the struggle as distant and obscene." — Wayne Washington, The Palm Beach (Florida) Post, 23 Jan. 2020

Did You Know?

Since at least the late 1600s, English speakers have been using the noun cocoon for the silky covering that surrounds a caterpillar or other insect larva in the pupa stage of metamorphosis. The word derives, via French cocon, from Occitan coucoun, which, in turn, emerged from coco, an Occitan term for "shell." Linguists believe the Occitan term was probably born of the Latin word coccum, a noun that has been translated as kermes, which refers to the dried bodies of some insects that are sometimes found on certain trees. The verb cocoon has been with us since the latter half of the 19th century.