DictionaryAI

cuckold

SayKUK-ohldUS/ˈkʌ.koʊld/UK/ˈkʌ.kəʊld/

Pluralcuckolds

Verbcuckolds, cuckolding, cuckolded

4 meanings of cuckold

Practice

  1. 1
    betrayed husbandnouncountable
    A man whose wife is unfaithful to him, especially one who does not know or will not accept it.

    The comedy mocks a rich merchant who is the last to learn he is a cuckold.

    Village gossip turned the trusting miller and the other cuckolds into figures of fun.

    Note

    The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests, and the word casts the husband as the bird left raising another's young. Scorn has long come with it: Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1630) mocks a willing cuckold, and in recent political talk the clipped cuck and the blend cuckservative became taunts that a man is weak.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests. bto.org
    • The word's cuckoo connection represents the husband as a bird raising another's offspring. folger.edu
    • Thomas Middleton wrote A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. emed.folger.edu
    • The first edition was published in 1630. Folger identifies 1613 as the first-performance year. emed.folger.edu
    • The play mocks a willing cuckold, illustrating longstanding scorn. gutenberg.org
    • Cuck is a shortening of cuckold, and cuckservative is a blend used as a political insult implying weakness. en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2
    aroused partnernouncountable
    A man who is sexually aroused by his partner's infidelity, as a paraphilia.

    In the survey, the self-identified cuckolds reported feeling aroused rather than betrayed by their partners' affairs.

    The novel's narrator is a cuckold who encourages his wife's affairs and waits up eagerly to hear every detail.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To betray a husband, wife or partner by being sexually unfaithful to them, or by seducing their spouse or partner.

    After twenty years of marriage, he learned that his wife had been cuckolding him with a neighbor.

    In the play, a scheming courtier sets out to cuckold the duke by seducing the duchess.

    UsageThe object is the deceived partner, not the lover: she cuckolded her husband.

    Similartwo-time

    Note

    A wife can be cuckolded too, and the word for her is cuckquean. Put horns on someone says the same thing with an image of its own.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    noun
    A name for several tropical western Atlantic fishes, especially the scrawled cowfish and smooth trunkfish, and also the fringed filefish.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English cokewold and similar forms, from Old French cucuault, a compound of cucu ("cuckoo") and the suffix -auld; it refers to the cuckoo's habit of laying its eggs in another bird's nest. Cucu imitates the cuckoo's call or comes from Latin cucūlus, and -auld comes from Frankish *wald ("wielder, ruler"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- ("to be strong; to rule"). The noun appears in Middle English around 1250, and the verb is first recorded in 1589.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

  • The word comes through Middle English cokewold and related forms from Old French cucuault, composed of cucu and -auld. en.wiktionary.org
  • The name alludes to cuckoos laying eggs in other birds' nests. en.wikipedia.org
  • Cucu is imitative or derives from Latin cuculus. en.wiktionary.org
  • The suffix derives from Frankish *wald, meaning wielder or ruler, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-, meaning to be strong or rule. en.wiktionary.org
  • The noun is attested in Middle English around 1250. en.wiktionary.org
  • The first recorded verb use dates to 1589. en.wiktionary.org