What is a synonym for "cockney"?

Common synonyms include: acadian, anglo-indian, average man, baseborn, below the salt, bourgeois.

Cockney

adj, name, noun, slang

adj, name, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any Londoner. UK, slang
"COCKNEY, a native of London. An ancient nickname implying effeminacy, used by the oldest English writers, and derived from the imaginary fool's paradise, or lubberland, Cockaygne."
2
A native or inhabitant of parts of the East End of London.
"A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots."
3
the nonstandard dialect of natives of the east end of London wordnet
4
A Londoner born within earshot of the city's Bow Bells, or (now generically) any working-class Londoner. UK
"Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bell, are in reproach called Cockneys."
5
An effeminate person; a spoilt child. obsolete
"A young heir, or cockney, that is his mother's darling[…]"

Show 1 more definition

6
a native of the east end of London wordnet

Adjective

1
From the East End of London, or London generally. UK, not-comparable
2
Alternative form of Cockney. alt-of, alternative, not-comparable
3
Of or relating to people from this area or their speech style. not-comparable

Adjective

1
relating to or resembling a cockney wordnet
2
characteristic of Cockneys or their dialect wordnet

Proper Noun

1
The dialect or accent of such Londoners.
2
Alternative form of Cockney. alt-of, alternative

Synonyms

All synonyms

acadian anglo-indian average man baseborn below the salt bourgeois

Antonyms

All antonyms

macho

Example

More examples

"The Cockney mode of speech, with its unpleasant twang, is a modern corruption without legitimate credentials, and is unworthy of being the speech of any person in the capital city of the Empire."

Etymology

Etymology 1

First attested in Samuel Rowland's 1600 The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine as "a Bowe-bell Cockney", from Middle English cokenay (“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”), used in the 16th c. by English country folk as a term of disparagement for city dwellers, of uncertain etymology. Possibly from Middle English cokeney (“a small, misshapen egg”), from coken (“cocks'(rooster’s)”) + ey (“egg”) or from Cockney and Cocknay, variants of Cockaigne, a mythical land of luxury (first attested in 1305) eventually used as a humorous epithet of London. Compare cocker (“to spoil a child”).

Etymology 2

See Cockney.

More for "cockney"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.