What does coucal mean?
A coucal is a large cuckoo-family bird, especially one of the long-tailed species found in tropical Africa and Asia. Unlike many cuckoos that are small and secretive, coucals are conspicuous, often terrestrial birds that hunt insects and other small animals on the ground. Several species carry the word in their names, notably the greater coucal and lesser coucal, and the group also includes birds with striking black, white, brown, or green plumage. In English, coucal is primarily the vocabulary of bird guides, wildlife documentaries, and observations from regions where these birds are familiar; it is not an ordinary term for cuckoos generally. A bird identified simply as a coucal should not automatically be taken for a true cuckoo, although both belong to the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. The word is best known to many English speakers through South Asian birdwatching, where several coucal species are conspicuous members of the countryside.
nounA large, mostly ground-dwelling bird of the cuckoo family, typically with a long, broad, graduated tail, found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The group includes the greater coucal and lesser coucal.
- Any of various large, long-tailed birds in the cuckoo family, especially those occurring in Africa and Asia.
"A greater coucal stalked through the grass beside the rice field, its long tail held high."
"A lesser coucal called from a dense thicket at the edge of the marsh."
"The field guide identifies the black bird with the long tail as a coucal."
The standard plural is coucals.
"Several coucals were foraging in the long grass."
With a dramatic graduated tail and a taste for life on the ground, a coucal looks like a cuckoo that has chosen the spotlight.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does coucal come from?
The English noun coucal was borrowed from French coucal, the established French name for these birds. The French word is generally traced to a Malay source, probably connected with the birds' calls, although the precise historical development is not entirely certain. Its remote relationship with other forms of “cuckoo” should therefore not be treated as a firmly established cognate connection.
How coucal is actually used
In ordinary English, coucal is a specialist bird name rather than a general term for a cuckoo. It is most familiar in ornithological writing and in descriptions of wildlife in Africa and South Asia.
Easily confused with coucal
A coucal is a cuckoo-family bird but is generally much larger and more terrestrial, whereas “cuckoo” often refers to the smaller, more arboreal members of the family.