What does "cooee" mean?

A long, loud call used to attract attention when at a distance, mainly done in the Australian bush.

What is a synonym for "cooee"?

Common synonyms include: ahoy, ahoy!, hey, hey, hey!, oi.

//ˈkuːʷiː// intj, name, noun, verb, slang

intj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A long, loud call used to attract attention when at a distance, mainly done in the Australian bush. Australia, informal, onomatopoeic
"Then they heard in the distance the "coo-ee" of a white man, which was instantly answered by another "coo-ee"."
2
A short distance; hailing distance. Australia, also, figuratively, informal
"That is not within cooee of 10 per cent; it is much closer to six per cent."

Verb

1
To make such a call. Australia, informal, intransitive
"‘Look out for snakes,’ said Long Charlie, flourishing his lantern. ‘And don′t all of us be coo-eeing all the time, or when the little chap sings out we shan't be able to hear him.’"

Intj

1
Used to attract someone's attention. Australia, UK, informal
"Cooee! I'm over here!"

Proper Noun

"Then they heard in the distance the "coo-ee" of a white man, which was instantly answered by another "coo-ee"."

Borrowed from Dharug guuu-wi, adopted into English by white settlers in Australia from 1790.

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