cuckoo

• n. 布穀鳥；杜鵑鳥；傻子；咕咕聲
• adj. 愚笨的；瘋狂的
• vi. 學杜鵑叫
• vt. 不停地重複

擬聲詞，模仿布穀鳥的叫聲。

cuckoo

cuckoo: [13] So distinctive is the cuckoo’s call that it is not always clear whether the names for the bird in various languages, based on the call, owe their similarity to borrowing or coincidence – Dutch, for instance, has koekoek, Russian kukúshka, Latin cuculus, and Greek kókkūx. In the case of English cuckoo, it seems to have been borrowed from Old French cucu, which was of imitative origin. Its first appearance is in the famous Cuckoo song of the late 13th century (‘Sumer is icumen in, lhude sing, cuccu!’), where it replaced the native Middle English word yeke (from Old English gēac, also of imitative origin).

cuckoo (n.)

mid-13c., from Old French cocu "cuckoo," also "cuckold," echoic of the male bird's mating cry (compare Greek kokkyx, Latin cuculus, Middle Irish cuach, Sanskrit kokilas). Slang adjectival sense of "crazy" is American English, 1918, but noun meaning "stupid person" is recorded by 1580s, perhaps from the bird's unvarying, oft-repeated call. The Old English name was geac, cognate with Old Norse gaukr, source of Scottish and northern English gowk. The Germanic words presumably originally were echoic, too, but had drifted in form. Cuckoo clock is from 1789.

1. I was living in cloud-cuckoo-land about my salary expectations.

我對自己的薪水充滿了不切實際的幻想。

來自柯林斯例句

2. The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds'nests.

杜鵑在別的鳥巢中產卵.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. In England the cuckoo is the herald of spring.

在英國杜鵑鳥是報春的使者.

來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》

4. The cuckoo is a harbinger of spring.

布穀鳥預告春天的來臨.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. The cuckoo is the herald of spring.

杜鵑鳥預告春天的來臨.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》