Cook

See also: cook

English

Captain James Cook

Etymology

From cook. Doublet of Koch and Kok.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʊk/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (AU):

    (file)

• (some speakers from Northern England and Ireland) IPA^(key): /kuːk/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /kʉk/
• Homophone: cuck (most accents without the foot–strut split)

• Rhymes: -ʊk

Proper noun

Cook (countable and uncountable, plural Cooks)

1. (countable) An English surname originating as an occupation for a cook or seller of cooked food. Famously held by James Cook, English captain and explorer of the Pacific Ocean, and for whom the Cook Islands, Cook Strait and Mount Cook were named.
   • 2026 October 16, Rebecka Pieder, Parul Gupta, Ben Hatton, “Children aged 5, 8 and 11 killed in US school shooting before suspect shot by bystander”, in BBC‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 October 2026:

     "We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy," Steven Cook, the top administrative official of the local school district, said in a statement.

2. A placename:
   1. A locale in the United States:
      1. A township in Sac County, Iowa.
      2. A township in Decatur County, Kansas.
      3. A minor city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota; named for railroad official Wirth Cook.
      4. A village in Johnson County, Nebraska; named for landowner Andrew Cook.
      5. An unincorporated community in Madison Township, Fayette County, Ohio; named for landowner Matthew S. Cook.
      6. A township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
   2. A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; named for James Cook.
   3. A local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia; in full, the Shire of Cook.
   4. A ghost town in South Australia, Australia; named for Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia.
   5. A river in Westland district, West Coast, New Zealand.

      Synonym: Weheka

3. An electoral division in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Alternative forms

• (surname): Cooke, Coke

Derived terms

• Cook County
• Cookian
• Cook Inlet
• Cook Islands
• Cook-Levin theorem
• Cook Peninsula
• Cook reduction
• Cooks Gap
• Cook's Green
• Cooks Hill
• Cooks Myalls
• Cook's theorem
• Cook's tour
• Cook Strait
• Point Cook
• Weiss-Cook reaction

See also

• Cox

Further reading

• “Cook”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Cook (surname) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia