cockney

cockney · noun, adjective, proper noun¹

See Cockney.

Cockney · adjective, noun, proper noun²

1. Middle English · derived fromcokeney“a small, misshapen egg”
2. Middle English · inherited fromcokenay“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”
3. English todayCockney

First attested in Samuel Rowland's 1600 The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine as "a Bowe-bell Cockney", from Middle English cokenay (“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”), used in the 16th c. by English country folk as a term of disparagement for city dwellers, of uncertain etymology. Possibly from Middle English cokeney (“a small, misshapen egg”), from coken (“cocks'(rooster’s)”) + ey (“egg”) or from Cockney and Cocknay, variants of Cockaigne, a mythical land of luxury (first attested in 1305) eventually used as a humorous epithet of London. Compare cocker (“to spoil a child”).