cocoon
pronunciation
How to pronounce cocoon in British English:
UK [kəˈkuːn]
How to pronounce cocoon in American English:
US [kəˈkuːn]
-
- Noun:
- silky envelope spun by the larvae of many insects to protect pupas and by spiders to protect eggs
-
- Verb:
- retreat as if into a cocoon, as from an unfriendly environment
- wrap in or as if in a cocoon, as for protection
Word Origin
- cocoon (n.)
- 1690s, from Middle French coucon (16c., Modern French cocon), from coque "clam shell, egg shell, nut shell" (7c.), from Old French coque "shell," from Latin coccum "berry," from Greek kokkos "berry, seed" (see cocco-). The sense of "one's interior comfort place" is from 1986. Also see -oon.
- cocoon (v.)
- 1986, "to stay inside and be inactive," from coccoon (n.). A lady with an enchanting name, Faith Popcorn, has identified a menacing new American behavior that she gives the sweet name of 'cocooning.' It threatens the nation's pursuit of happiness, sometimes called the economy. [George Will, April 1987] Related: Cocooned; cocooning.
Example
- 1. A man found a cocoon of a butterfly .
- 2. Afterward the larva spins a cocoon and falls into a ten-month slumber , waiting for spring .
- 3. Shut ourselves up in a cocoon or built a wall around our heart so that no one can hurt us any further .
- 4. The symbiotic bacteria secrete a mixture of antimicrobial compounds on the walls of the cocoon to ward off microbial threats .
- 5. It was free to shed it 's cocoon of anger and fear and sadness .