What does coxcombry mean?
Coxcombry refers to the vain, foolish, and ostentatious behavior typical of a coxcomb — a man who exaggerates his own importance and devotes excessive attention to his dress, manners, and self-display. The term descends from 'coxcomb,' originally the fleshy red crest of a rooster and later the cap worn by a professional jester, which by Shakespeare's time had come to mean a conceited fool. To accuse someone of coxcombry is therefore to mock them as a strutting, empty-headed show-off, concerned more with appearances than substance. The word belongs to a literary register: it appears most often in historical fiction, satirical essays, and critiques of social pretension rather than everyday speech. Its synonyms include foppery, conceit, and vanity, though coxcombry specifically evokes a theatrical, almost comic brand of arrogance. Though rare today, it remains a vivid, pointed label for pretentiousness, preserving a long English tradition of ridiculing those who mistake polish for worth.
nounVain, foolish, and ostentatious behavior characteristic of a coxcomb; foppish self-conceit. It denotes the pretentious airs and empty showiness of someone overly concerned with appearance and imagined superiority.
- Foolish vanity or ostentatious self-conceit, especially as shown in dress, manner, or boastful talk.
"His endless boasting about his tailor and his titles was pure coxcombry that wearied the entire dinner party."
"The young dandy's preening at the mirror was coxcombry of the most transparent kind."
"She dismissed his flowery compliments and gold-tipped cane as mere coxcombry."
Rarely pluralized; the word is almost always treated as an uncountable mass noun denoting a type of behavior.
"The essay catalogued the coxcombries of fashionable society with merciless wit."
Before it meant a fool, 'coxcomb' was literally a rooster's crest — so calling someone out for coxcombry is essentially telling them they're strutting like a barnyard bird.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of coxcombry
Coxcombry derives from 'coxcomb,' a compound of 'cock' (a rooster) and 'comb' (the bird's fleshy crest). The term came to name the scarlet cap, shaped like a cock's comb, worn by court jesters, and since fools wore this cap, 'coxcomb' evolved into a byword for a vain, silly man — a usage already current in Elizabethan England. The derivative 'coxcombry' arose to denote the behavior of such a person, appearing in English by around the seventeenth century. It shares its ultimate root with other words built on 'cock,' such as 'cocksure' and 'weathercock.'
Related word forms
How coxcombry is actually used
Coxcombry is a rare, literary word, now largely confined to formal writing, historical fiction, and criticism of social pretension. It carries an inherently mocking, dismissive connotation — one does not describe oneself with it. The related adjective form appears chiefly in older British literature, particularly of the Restoration and Georgian eras.
Easily confused with coxcombry
A coxcomb is the vain, foolish man himself (originally the cock's-comb cap worn by a court jester), while coxcombry is the vain, foppish behavior such a person displays.