A vain, conceited man. From the 1570s — named after the cock's-comb cap worn by professional jesters.
What it really means
A coxcomb is a vain, shallow, self-admiring man — and the insult is a costume.
The word comes from the jester. From the 1560s, the cap worn by licensed court fools was called a cock's comb: red, crested, shaped like a rooster's head. By the 1570s, calling a man a coxcomb meant putting that cap on him — declaring, in one word, that he was a fool who did not know it.
The rooster helps the image along, because a cock is a vain bird that struts. But the more cutting sense is the jester's. A coxcomb is not just proud. He is proud and ridiculous, and the whole court can see it except him.
It was a lasting word. Shakespeare used it freely, and it was still common enough to appear in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue nearly two and a half centuries after it was coined. Samuel Johnson recorded an adjective, coxcomical, and then discouraged it as a low word unworthy of use — which is perhaps the most coxcombical thing a dictionary has ever done.
Of all the words on this list, it is the one that still works exactly as intended.
Where it comes from
The jester's cap was shaped and coloured like a cock's comb. To call a man a coxcomb was to put the fool's cap on him.
Myths & misconceptions
A coxcomb is named after a rooster because vain men strut.
The strut helps, but the direct source is the jester. Licensed fools wore a cap called the cock's comb, and a coxcomb was a man who had earned it.
How it connects
- Fopdoodlethe silly fool, where the coxcomb is the vain one.
Questions people ask
- What does coxcomb mean?
- A vain, conceited, shallow man — in English from the 1570s.
- Why is it called a coxcomb?
- After the cock's-comb cap worn by professional jesters. Calling someone a coxcomb put the fool's cap on him.