Meanings
plural poppycocks
- colloquialuncountableusuallyfoolish talk; nonsense.
That rumor is nothing but sheer poppycock.
2 more examples
He dismissed the conspiracy theory as poppycock.
Don’t talk such poppycock—you know it’s not true.
Synonyms: balderdash
Synonyms & antonyms
nounfoolish talk; nonsense.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Dutchpappe“soft food”
- Dutchpappekak
- Englishpoppycock
Borrowed from Dutch pappekak, from Middle Dutch pappe (“soft food”) + kak (“dung, excrement”).
More words from Dutch, Middle Dutch
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans pappekak, nonsens
- pappekaknonsense
- nonsensnonsense
- onsinnonsense
- snertnonsense
- twaknonsense
- strontnonsense
Bulgarian глупости
- глупости (gluposti)nonsense
Dutch onzin, nonsens
- onzinnonsense
- nonsensnonsense
Finnish hölynpöly
- hölynpölynonsense
French baliverne
- balivernenonsense
German Quatsch, Dünnschiss
- Quatschnonsense
- Dünnschissnonsense
Italian stupidaggine
- stupidagginenonsense
Polish bzdury, ambaje
- bzdurynonsense
- ambajenonsense
- andronynonsense
- banialukinonsense
Russian вздор, ерунда́
- вздор (vzdor)nonsense
- ерунда́ (jerundá)nonsense
- туфта́ (tuftá)nonsense
- чепуха́ (čepuxá)nonsense
- чушь (čušʹ)nonsense
Spanish tontería, sinsentido
- tonteríanonsense
- sinsentidononsense
Turkish laga luga
- laga luganonsense
Cite this entry
poppycock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poppycock
“poppycock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poppycock. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poppycock,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poppycock.
Source: poppycock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.