the.com/cuckoo
nature's con artist that outsources parenthood to strangers it tricks for a living
means A bird (especially the European common cuckoo) known for laying its eggs in other birds' nests, or, as an adjective, slang for crazy or foolish.
from An imitative word — it simply echoes the bird's two-note call, 'cuck-oo,' which is why so many languages land on something similar (French 'coucou,' Latin 'cuculus,' Greek 'kokkyx'). English borrowed the form from Old French in the medieval period, nudging aside the older native name 'yek' or 'geac.' The 'crazy' sense came much later — the cuckoo got a reputation as a silly or simple bird, and by an 18th-to-19th-century slang turn, calling someone 'cuckoo' meant their wits had flown the nest.
- foster scam
- lays eggs in other birds' nests to dodge parenting
- baby assassin
- hatchling shoves rival eggs out the nest
- egg mimicry
- matches host eggs to avoid getting busted
- namesake clock
- the call inspired centuries of Swiss timekeeping
- slang origin
- obsession with one nest birthed the word crazy
cuckoo clock — wooden german clocks from the black forest that eject a carved bird on the hour, popular since the 1700s
common cuckoo — cuculus canorus, european bird that lays eggs in other birds' nests instead of building its own
cuckoo pint — arum maculatum, a spring wildflower native to europe with a spotted purple spadix