Etymologically
Log in

cocoa

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkoʊ.koʊ/[1]
  • UK: /ˈkəʊ.kəʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is a variant or alteration of cacao,[2][3][4][5] probably at least partly by confusion with coco, the coconut palm,[2][3][4][6] although the OED compares the ending with the older spelling cacoa.[2] In Merriam-Webster's account it is borrowed from Spanish cacao, modified under the influence of the name of the coconut palm.[7] The Spanish word is from Nahuatl cacahuatl (“cocoa bean; cacao tree”),[2][7][8] with the ending altered after Spanish plant names in -o.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that the Nahuatl word may come from Proto-Mixe-Zoque, perhaps the language of the Olmec civilization.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cacao tree, or a plantation of these trees: 1670, in J. Ogilby's America.[2][9] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1707,[4][6] Etymonline for the seeds,[6] and Merriam-Webster to 1730.[7]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that cacao was the usual English form from the 16th century until the 18th, when it was changed to cocoa.[10] The seed, cocoa beans as processed for chocolate, is recorded from 1698,[2][9] and the chocolate drink made from the ground beans with hot water or milk from 1786; the ground beans themselves, now cocoa powder, follow in 1831.[2] Etymonline dates the powder to 1788 and says that cocoa has been the regular spelling since about 1800.[6] The confusion with coco was helped along when the printers of Johnson's dictionary ran its entries for the two words together,[6] and Johnson's cocoa is in fact a palm tree of the East and West Indies.[11] According to Ayto the word was first pronounced in three syllables, and confusion with the coco of coconut gave it two;[10] the OED notes, however, that 18th-century dictionaries already show two syllables.[2] The colour sense, a shade of brown like cocoa, dates from 1923 (1894 in the OED of 1989), and the adjective from 1942.[2][12] In US slang cocoa has been a derogatory word for a black person.[13]

Timeline

  • 1670 – the cacao tree.[2]
  • 1698 – the seed of the cacao tree, cocoa beans.[2]
  • 1707 – the seeds, in Barnhart and Etymonline.[4][6]
  • 1786 – a chocolate drink made from ground cocoa beans.[2]
  • 1831 – the ground beans used for the drink; cocoa powder.[2]
  • 1923 – a brown colour like that of cocoa.[2]
  • 1936 – rhyming slang I should cocoa, I should say so.[12]
  • 1942 – adjective, cocoa-coloured.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A powder made from roasted and ground cacao seeds with most of their fat removed.[14][7]
  2. A hot or cold drink made from this powder with milk or water: She made a mug of cocoa before bed.[14][7][2]
  3. The cacao tree, or its seeds, cocoa beans.[2][15][7]
  4. A light to moderate brown colour.[14][7][2]

Adjective

  1. Of a brown colour like that of cocoa.[2][14]

Word family

  • cocoa bean
  • cocoa butter

Usage notes

Although cocoa and cacao are essentially synonyms, the OED notes that which form is used can depend on the context.[2] The rhyming-slang I should cocoa, I should say so, often used ironically, is recorded from 1936.[12][15] The spelling cocoa was also used for coco, the coconut palm, as in Johnson's dictionary.[12][11][16]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House