peacock

UK/ˈpiːkɒk//ˈpikɑk/

peacock noun: a male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.

Image: Jebulon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

peacock (usually countable, plural peacocks)

(usually) A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.
- The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v
(usually) A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.
(uncountable, usually) The meat of this bird.
- When a reader recently inquired if people really eat peacock, I stated that I’d never tasted the bird, roasted or otherwise, and as far as I knew, it is rarely cooked anywhere in the world.1979 April 23, Craig Claiborne, “De Gustibus”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
- Nor do many people today long to eat peacock, which was both a privilege and an ordeal reserved for royalty.1990 December 20, Charles Perry, “The Birds: Fowl Play…”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2026
(usually) A pompous or vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].

Synonyms:

turkeycock
(usually) Any of various Asian species of papilionid butterflies of the genus Papilio.
- The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 199

Verb

peacock (third-person singular simple present peacocks, present participle peacocking, simple past and past participle peacocked)

(intransitive) To strut about proudly or haughtily.
- A routine border-check in upstate New York had turned into a back-room interrogation, and I was worried, because the three friends I was traveling with didn’t respond to authority well. I could almost hear the wry grins cracking their faces as the officers peacocked. “Is U.S. Customs a joke to...2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine
(intransitive) To engage in peacocking, ostentatious dress or behaviour to impress women.

Proper noun capitalized: Peacock

Peacock (countable and uncountable, plural Peacocks)

A surname transferred from the nickname.
A township in Lake County, Michigan, United States.
An unincorporated community in Stonewall County, Texas, United States.

peacock meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

peacock in Hindi

pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo: मोर mor, मयूर mayūr

peacock in Tamil

pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo: மயில் mayil, ஞமலி ñamali, தோகை tōkai

peacock in Marathi

pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo: मोर mor

peacock in Urdu

pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo: مور mor

More languagesFewer languages

peacock in Bengali: ময়ূর moẏur
peacock in Telugu: నెమలి nemali
peacock in Malayalam: മയിൽ mayil
peacock in Kannada: ನವಿಲು navilu, ಮಯೂರ mayūra, ಕೇಕಿ kēki
peacock in Punjabi: ਮੋਰ mor
peacock in Gujarati: મોર mor
peacock in Odia: ମୟୂର mayura
peacock in Sanskrit: मयूर mayūra, मयूरी mayūrī
peacock in Assamese: ম’ৰা möra, মৈৰা moira, ময়ূৰ moyur
peacock in Nepali: मुजुर mujura, मयूर mayūra
peacock in Pashto: طاووس tāwús, تاووس tāwús, ميور myor, کښېدی kx̌edáy
peacock in Tagalog: paboreal
peacock in Arabic: طَاوُوس ṭāwūs
peacock in Malay: merak
peacock in Indonesian: merak jantan, merak
peacock in Persian: طاووس tâvus
peacock in Thai: นกยูง nók yuung, ยูง yuung, มยูร, มยุรา
peacock in Vietnamese: công
peacock in Myanmar: ဒေါင်း daung:
Sindhi: मोर mor

Examples of peacock in a sentence

Nero, infamous emperor of Rome, built a rotating dining room in which guests could eat peacock while flower petals fluttered down from special panels in the ivory ceiling.2017 September 27, Sam Anderson, “New Sentences: From ‘The New Rules of Coffee’”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New...
I could almost hear the wry grins cracking their faces as the officers peacocked.2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine:

Synonyms of peacock

Forms of peacock

Noun
plural	peacocks
Verb
third-person singular present	peacocks
present participle	peacocking
past participle	peacocked
past	peacocked
Proper noun
plural	Peacocks
alternative form	Pocock

Origin of peacock

From Middle English pecok, pekok, pocok, pacok, first component from Old English pēa, pāwa (“peacock, peafowl”), ultimately from Latin pāvō; equivalent to pea + cock. Compare Old Norse páfugl (“peacock”, literally “peafowl”), and English peahen, peachick, etc.

From peacock, a nickname for a vain and conceited person.

Phrases with peacock

6 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about peacock

What does peacock mean?: Peacock means a male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.
What is peacock in Hindi?: Peacock in Hindi is मोर (mor), मयूर (mayūr). See Peacock meaning in Hindi.
How do you use peacock in a sentence?: Nero, infamous emperor of Rome, built a rotating dining room in which guests could eat peacock while flower petals fluttered down from special panels in the ivory ceiling.
What part of speech is peacock?: Peacock can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce peacock?: Peacock is pronounced /ˈpikɑk/ (US).
What is the plural of peacock?: The plural of peacock is peacocks.

Words near peacock in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: peacock (page history and authors); Peacock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-peacock.ogg.

Cite this entry: “peacock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/peacock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.