cockney

 
Pronunciation: /ˈkɒkni/

noun (plural cockneys)

  • 1a native of East London, traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells: Charlie was a cockney by birth, but he’d spent a lot of time abroad
  • [mass noun] the dialect or accent typical of cockneys: his accent was a peculiar mixture of cockney and American
  • 2Australian a young snapper fish (Chrysophrys auratus).

adjective

  • of or characteristic of cockneys or their dialect or accent: cockney humour

Origin:

late Middle English (denoting a pampered child): origin uncertain; it is apparently not the same word as Middle English cokeney 'cock's egg', denoting a small misshapen egg (probably from cock1 + obsolete ey 'egg'). A later sense was 'a town-dweller regarded as affected or puny', from which the current sense arose in the early 17th century