coxcomb

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cokkes comb (“crest of a cock”),^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English cok + comb, with the first element in the genitive.^[2][5] The OED treats coxcomb and cockscomb as forms of one word, and suggests that the spelling with x may partly show the word's separation from cock.^[5] Collins, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Dictionary.com also call it a variant of cockscomb.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The comb or crest of a domestic cock: about 1425, in Mandeville's Travels, usually in the spelling cockscomb;^[5] Barnhart dates the same record to about 1400.^[4] In the senses that belong to coxcomb today, the first records are later: the fool's cap before 1529, in Skelton,^[5] and a fool in 1542, in Udall's translation of Erasmus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The professional fool's cap looked like a cock's comb in shape and colour, and it gave the word its later senses.^{[5][9][10][11]} Nares (1822), quoted by Green's Dictionary of Slang, describes the licensed fool's cap as often ending in a cock's head and comb.^[12] From the cap the word passed to the wearer, a jester or fool,^[7][13] and then, by 1567, to a vain, conceited man or fop;^[5] Etymonline has the 1570s.^[14] The simple sense "fool" died out by about 1790,^[5] leaving the fop;^[5] a foolish or affected woman could also be called one from before 1640 to 1791.^[5] Humorously it also meant a person's head, from 1567,^[5][12] a use Shakespeare has in King Lear, where the Fool also offers his cap with thou must needs wear my coxcomb.^[15][10][16] Johnson (1755) gave the top of the head, the comb that licensed fools wore, and "a fop; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments".^[16] Etymonline reports that he discouraged coxcomical, "foppish, conceited", as "a low word unworthy of use".^[14] The plant names, for the yellow rattle from before 1500 and for celosias from 1718, usually keep the spelling cockscomb.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – the comb or crest of a cock.^[5] Barnhart has about 1400.^[4]
• before 1500 – the plant yellow rattle.^[5]
• before 1529 – a cap worn by a fool or jester.^[5] Etymonline has the 1560s and Barnhart 1573.^[14][4]
• 1542 – a fool (obsolete by 1790).^[5] Barnhart has 1573.^[4]
• 1567 – a vain, conceited man; a fop.^[5] Also humorously a person's head.^[5]
• before 1640 – a foolish, affected woman (obsolete by 1791).^[5]
• 1718 – a celosia, in the spelling cockscomb.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vain, conceited man who is showy about his dress; a fop.^{[3][5][6][17]}
2. A variant spelling of cockscomb, the crest of a cock or a plant such as celosia.^[6][5]
3. A cleat near the end of a yardarm, giving a lead when hauling out reef earings.^[3]
4. A 17th-century hinge whose scrolled ends suggest a cock's comb.^[3]
5. (archaic) A person's head.^[3][5]
6. (obsolete or archaic) The cap of a jester, like a cock's comb.^[5][6][3]
7. (obsolete, 1542–1790) A fool.^[5][3]

Word family

• coxcombical
• coxcombically
• coxcombry

Related words

• cockscomb
• cock
• comb

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ 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.
17. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press