cod

Meanings

Noun

• A small bag or pouch.
• A husk or integument; a pod.
• The cocoon of a silkworm.
• The scrotum (also in plural).
• A pillow or cushion.
• The Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua.
• The sea fish of the genus Gadus generally, as inclusive of the Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus (species)) and Greenland cod (Gadus ogac (species) or Gadus macrocephalus ogac (subspecies)).
• The sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus).
• Other unrelated fish which are similarly important to regional fisheries, as the hapuku and cultus cod.
• Other unrelated fish which resemble the Atlantic cod, as the rock cod (Lotella rhacina (species)) and blue cod (Parapercis colias (species)).
• A joke or an imitation.
• A stupid or foolish person.

Adjective

• Having the character of imitation; jocular. (now usually attributive, forming mostly compound adjectives).
• Bad.

Verb

• To attempt to deceive or confuse; To joke; To kid.

Related

Similar words

• milwell (many variants), Scotch cod, common cod
• gray cod, grey cod, grayfish, greyfish; ogac
• haddock, whiting
• hapuku
• rock cod, rockcod, beardie (Lotella rhacina (species)); cod icefish (Nototheniidae); marbled rockcod (Notothenia rossii (species)); emerald rockcod (Trematomus bernacchii (species)); honeycomb rockcod, dwarf spotted rockcod (Epinephelus merra (species)), Maori cod, Magellanic rockcod, blue notothenia, orange throat notothen (Paranotothenia magellanica (species)), brown spotted reef cod, brownspotted grouper (Epinephelus chlorostigma (species)), red rock cod, vermilion rockcod (Scorpaena papillosa (species)); red snapper (Lutjanus spp.); vermilion seaperch, vermilion rockfish (Sebastes miniatus (species)); grouper (the Serranidae); thornyhead (Sebastidae)
• faux, mock

Opposite words

• bona

Narrower meaning words

• codling
• morhwell
• scrod
• stockfish
• greenfish, green fish, green cod, white cod
• clipfish, salt cod, dry cod, ling, haberdine
• lutefisk
• bacalaito

Broader meaning words

• Anacanthini (order)
• demersal
• Gadiformes
• whitefish

Origin

• From Middle English cod, codde, from Old English cod, codd, from Proto-Germanic *kuddô, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- ("pouch, sack"), from *gew-. Cognate with Scots cod, codd, coad, kod, Low German Koden, Kon, Middle Dutch codde, Danish kodde, Swedish kudde, Faroese koddi, Icelandic koddi.
• From Middle English cod, codde, of uncertain origin:
• Oldest English form cotfich as a surname in the 13th century; for more see cot.
• Same as Etymology 1, above; a bag or pouch, related to its bloated shape.
• From Latin gadus, from Ancient Greek γάδος with a possible pre-Greek or Semitic origin; for more see Atargatis, Cetus, and κῆτος.
• Origin Unknown. Attested in reference to a person (though not always a stupid or foolish person) from the end of the 17th century. The Oxford English Dictionary (1891) notes that a suggested link to codger is unlikely, as cod appears much earlier.