Meanings
plural cockroaches
- Any black or brown straight-winged insect of the order Blattodea that is not a termite.
1 more example
Then there were cockroach hunts; we chased them out of their haunts, where at night they busily devoured currants, jam, and sugar; in fact their diet was far more varied than ours, for they made plentiful meals off our boots, the coverings of our books, and any stray pieces of flannel that came in their way.
1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 121Synonyms: roach
- derogatoryoffensiveslangA person or a member of a group of people regarded as undesirable and rapidly procreating.
During the Rwandan genocide, Hutu genocidaires labelled Tutsis as cockroaches and called for their extermination.
- AustraliaderogatoryespeciallyhumorousslangA person from New South Wales.
- AustraliaobsoleteslangA hard lump of brown sugar.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny black or brown straight-winged insect of the order Blattodea that is not a termite.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany of numerous chiefly nocturnal insects; some are domestic pests
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Spanishcucaracha
- Englishcockroach
From Spanish cucaracha, from cuca (“butterfly caterpillars”), of onomatopoeic origin; see also Greek κόκκυξ (kókkux) and Late Latin cucus. Influenced, by means of folk etymology, by cock and roach. Doublet of cucaracha.
More words from Spanish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans kakkerlak
- kakkerlaktype of insect
Ancient Greek σίλφη
- σίλφη (sílphē)type of insect
Arabic صُرْصُور
- صُرْصُور (ṣurṣūr)type of insect
Basque labezomorro
- labezomorrotype of insect
Bengali তেলাপোকা, আরশুলা
- তেলাপোকা (telapōka)type of insect
- আরশুলা (arśula)type of insect
Bulgarian хлеба́рка
- хлеба́рка (hlebárka)type of insect
Catalan escarabat, panerola
- escarabattype of insect
- panerolatype of insect
Chinese Cantonese 曱甴
- 曱甴type of insect
Chinese Mandarin 蟑螂, 蜚蠊
- 蟑螂 (zhāngláng)type of insect
- 蜚蠊 (fěilián)type of insect
- 偷油婆 (tōuyóupó)type of insect
- 小強 /小强 (xiǎoqiáng)type of insect
Czech šváb
- švábtype of insect
Danish kakerlak
- kakerlaktype of insect
Dutch kakkerlak, sissende kakkerlak
- kakkerlaktype of insect
- sissende kakkerlaktype of insect
Esperanto blato
- blatotype of insect
Estonian prussakas
- prussakastype of insect
Finnish torakka
- torakkatype of insect
French cafard, blatte
- cafardtype of insect
- blattetype of insect
- coquerelletype of insect
German Schabe, Kakerlake
- Schabetype of insect
- Kakerlaketype of insect
Greek κατσαρίδα
- κατσαρίδα (katsarída)type of insect
Hebrew ג׳וּק, תִּיקָן
- ג׳וּק (juk)type of insect
- תִּיקָן (tikan)type of insect
Hindi तिलचट्टा, तिलचटा
- तिलचट्टा (tilcaṭṭā)type of insect
- तिलचटा (tilacṭā)type of insect
- चपड़ा (capṛā)type of insect
Hungarian csótány, svábbogár
- csótánytype of insect
- svábbogártype of insect
Icelandic kakkalakki
- kakkalakkitype of insect
Indonesian kecoak, kacoa
- kecoaktype of insect
- kacoatype of insect
- kecoatype of insect
Irish blatóg
- blatógtype of insect
Italian blatta, scarafaggio
- blattatype of insect
- scarafaggiotype of insect
Japanese ゴキブリ, アブラムシ
- ゴキブリ (gokiburi)type of insect
- アブラムシ (abura-mushi)type of insect
- アマメ (amame)type of insect
Korean 바퀴, 바퀴벌레
- 바퀴 (bakwi)type of insect
- 바퀴벌레 (bakwibeolle)type of insect
Latin blatta
- blattatype of insect
Latvian prusaks, tarakāns
- prusakstype of insect
- tarakānstype of insect
Lithuanian tarakonas
- tarakonastype of insect
Malay lipas
- lipastype of insect
Māori kēkerengū, kokoroihe
- kēkerengūtype of insect
- kokoroihetype of insect
- papatatype of insect
Norwegian Bokmål kakerlakk
- kakerlakktype of insect
Polish karaluch, karakan
- karaluchtype of insect
- karakantype of insect
- karaczantype of insect
Portuguese barata, carocha
- baratatype of insect
- carochatype of insect
Punjabi ਕਾਕਰੋਚ
- ਕਾਕਰੋਚ (kākroc)type of insect
Romanian gândac, libarcă
- gândactype of insect
- libarcătype of insect
- rustype of insect
Russian тарака́н, пруса́к
- тарака́н (tarakán)type of insect
- пруса́к (prusák)type of insect
Slovak šváb
- švábtype of insect
Spanish cucaracha, jate
- cucarachatype of insect
- jatetype of insect
- curianatype of insect
- fatulatype of insect
Swahili mende, kombamwiko
- mendetype of insect
- kombamwikotype of insect
Swedish kackerlacka
- kackerlackatype of insect
Tagalog ipis
- ipistype of insect
Tamil கக்கலாத்து, கரப்பான் பூச்சி
- கக்கலாத்து (kakkalāttu)type of insect
- கரப்பான் பூச்சி (karappāṉ pūcci)type of insect
- கரப்பான் (karappāṉ)type of insect
Thai แมลงสาบ, สาบ
- แมลงสาบtype of insect
- สาบ (sàap)type of insect
Turkish hamam böceği, karafatma
- hamam böceğitype of insect
- karafatmatype of insect
Ukrainian тарга́н, тарака́н
- тарга́н (tarhán)type of insect
- тарака́н (tarakán)type of insect
- пруса́к (prusák)type of insect
Urdu تِل چَٹّا
- تِل چَٹّا (til caṭṭā)type of insect
Vietnamese gián
- giántype of insect
Welsh chwilen ddu, cocrotsien
- chwilen ddutype of insect
- cocrotsientype of insect
Yiddish טאַראַקאַן, קנײַפּער
- טאַראַקאַן (tarakan)type of insect
- קנײַפּער (knayper)type of insect
- שוואַב (shvab)type of insect
Zulu iphela
- iphelatype of insect
Cite this entry
cockroach. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockroach
“cockroach.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockroach. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cockroach,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockroach.
Source: cockroach on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.