Meanings
plural pillocks
- CommonwealthIrelandUKderogatoryslangA stupid or annoying person; a simpleton; a fool.
What is it now, you great pillock?
1970 October 27, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Butcher Who is Alternately Rude and Polite1 more example
Take your Typhoon up there and swat the annoying mosquito out of the sky by challenging the infantile pillock to a classic World-War-II-era dogfight like a real man, to show them who the real king of European airspace is.
2021 March 19, Bosnian Ape Society, 3:55 from the start, in Is Your Car Safe From Supermaneuverable Air-Defense Fighter Aircraft?, archived from the original on 07 Aug 2022
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who is not very bright
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
In the middle of the 16th century, the meaning was "penis". Probably from pillicock (“penis; boy, man”), presumably akin to the slang term dickhead (“inept fool”). Alternatively, from the same basis as pillicock (compare regional Norwegian pill (“penis”)) + the diminutive suffix -ock.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch stomkop, eikel
- stomkopa stupid person
- eikela stupid person
French blaireau, boulet
- blaireaua stupid person
- bouleta stupid person
German Trottel
- Trottela stupid person
Russian дура́к, о́лух
- дура́к (durák)a stupid person
- о́лух (ólux)a stupid person
- идио́т (idiót)a stupid person
- балбе́с (balbés)a stupid person
- балда́ (baldá)a stupid person
- болва́н (bolván)a stupid person
- дурале́й (duraléj)a stupid person
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
pillock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pillock
“pillock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pillock. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pillock,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pillock.
Source: pillock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.