What does cony mean?
Cony, also spelled coney, is an old English name for a rabbit, particularly the European rabbit that was introduced to Britain in medieval times and widely farmed for meat and fur. The word appears frequently in earlier literature and place names, but in everyday speech it has long been superseded by 'rabbit', surviving today mainly in historical texts, dialect, and hunting tradition. A second, distinct sense arises from the King James Bible and other older translations, where 'cony' denotes the rock hyrax — a small, furry Middle Eastern mammal that lives among rocks and was assumed by translators to be the animal named in the Hebrew scriptures. The word derives ultimately from the Latin cuniculus, passed through Old French into Middle English. Though rare in contemporary use, cony retains charm as a literary relic, evoking medieval warrens, country lore, and the layered history of translation.
A rabbit, especially the European rabbit; now largely archaic, literary, or regional.
"The warren was full of coneys darting between the burrows."
Often encountered in historical or dialectal contexts; spelled either cony or coney.
The rock hyrax of the Middle East, so rendered in older English translations of the Hebrew Bible.
"The psalm describes the cony as a feeble folk that makes its home in the rocks."
Strictly a translation convention: the Hebrew shaphan denotes the hyrax, not a rabbit.
Both plural forms are accepted; 'coneys' follows the common -eys pattern and appears more often in older texts.
"The hillside was riddled with the burrows of countless coneys."
The Bible's mysterious 'cony' isn't a rabbit at all — translators reached for a familiar word to describe the rock hyrax, a small Middle Eastern mammal whose closest living relative is the elephant.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cony
Cony comes from the Latin cuniculus, meaning rabbit or underground burrow, transmitted into Middle English through Old French forms such as connil. It entered English in the medieval period alongside the animal itself, which had been introduced to Britain after the Norman era. Its variant spelling coney reflects the same source. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Bible translations, the word was applied to the Hebrew shaphan, the rock hyrax, because translators identified it with a familiar small mammal.
How cony is actually used
Cony (also spelled coney) is archaic or regional in modern usage; 'rabbit' has almost entirely displaced it outside literature, historical writing, and Biblical commentary. The plural may be either 'conys' or 'coneys'. In Biblical contexts the term refers to the hyrax rather than any true rodent.
Easily confused with cony
Canny is an adjective meaning shrewd or careful, while cony is a noun meaning a rabbit.
Coney is simply a variant spelling of the same word, both referring to a rabbit; neither should be confused with 'corny', which means banal or sentimental.