cockroach

English

Etymology

From Spanish cucaracha, from cuca (“butterfly caterpillars”), of onomatopoeic origin; see also Greek κόκκυξ (kókkux) and Late Latin cucus. Influenced, by means of folk etymology, by cock and roach. Doublet of cucaracha.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑkɹoʊt͡ʃ/, (nonstandard) /ˈkɑkəɹoʊt͡ʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒkɹəʊt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cockroach (plural cockroaches)

2. Any black or brown straight-winged insect of the order Blattodea that is not a termite.

   Synonym: (US) roach

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 121:

     Then there were cockroach hunts; we chased them out of their haunts, where at night they busily devoured currants, jam, and sugar; in fact their diet was far more varied than ours, for they made plentiful meals off our boots, the coverings of our books, and any stray pieces of flannel that came in their way.

3. (slang, offensive) A person or a member of a group of people regarded as undesirable and rapidly procreating.
4. (Australia, slang, derogatory, humorous, especially used in rugby league) A person from New South Wales.
5. (Australia, slang, obsolete) A hard lump of brown sugar.

Derived terms

• amber forest cockroach, amber wood cockroach (Ectobius vittiventris)
• American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
• Asiatic cockroach (Blatta orientalis)
• Australian cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae)
• Australian wood cockroach (Panesthia spp.)
• brown-banded cockroach (Supella longipalpa)
• brown cockroach (Validiblatta brunnea)
• cockroachicide
• cockroachlike
• cockroach of the sea
• cockroach taxi
• cockroach theory
• cockroach wasp (Ampulicidae spp.)
• cockroachy
• death's head cockroach (Blaberus craniifer)
• emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa)
• Florida woods cockroach (Eurycotis floridana)
• German cockroach (Blattella germanica)
• giant burrowing cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros)
• giant cockroach (Blaberus spp.)
• Gisborne cockroach (Drymaplaneta semivitta)
• greenhouse cockroach (Pycnoscelus surinamensis)
• hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhini spp.)
• Japanese cockroach (Periplaneta japonica)
• kikeroach
• Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa)
• Madeira cockroach (Leucophaea maderae)
• oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis)
• Pennsylvanian cockroach, Pennsylvania wood cockroach (Parcoblatta pensylvanica)
• red runner cockroach (Periplaneta lateralis)
• rhinoceros cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros)
• roach
• rusty red cockroach (Periplaneta lateralis)
• smokybrown cockroach (Validiblatta fuliginosa)
• Surinam cockroach (Pycnoscelus surinamensis)
• Turkestan cockroach (Periplaneta lateralis)
• Turkroach

Descendants

• Bislama: kakros
• Tok Pisin: kokoros
• → Maltese: kokroċ

Translations

type of insect

Afrikaans: kakkerlak (af) Alabama: iskanpatha Albanian: kacabu (sq) Amharic: በረሮ (bäräro) Arabic: صُرْصُور m (ṣurṣūr) Egyptian Arabic: صرصار m (ṣurṣār) Hijazi Arabic: صرصار m (ṣurṣār), صرصور m (ṣarṣūr) Iraqi Arabic: صرصر m (ṣurṣur), بنت وردان m (bent wurdān) Moroccan Arabic: سراق الزيت (sarrāq ez-zīt) South Levantine Arabic: صرصور m (ṣarṣūr) Aragonese: cucaracho m Armenian: ուտիճ (hy) (utič), խավարասեր (hy) (xavaraser) Assamese: পঁইতাচোৰা (põitasüra) Asturian: cucaracha f Azerbaijani: tarakan, mətbəxböcəyi, mətbəxqurdu Bangi: mpese Bashkir: тараҡан (taraqan) Basque: labezomorro Bau Bidayuh: ribabie Belait: katibung Belarusian: тарака́н m (tarakán), пруса́к m (prusák) Bengali: তেলাপোকা (bn) (telapōka), আরশুলা (arśula) Berber: Tashelhit: ibnḍr m Bikol Central: ipis (bcl) Brunei Bisaya: lipos Brunei Malay: lipas Bulgarian: хлеба́рка (bg) f (hlebárka) Burmese: ပိုးဟပ် (my) (pui:hap) Caac: kaphar Catalan: escarabat (ca) m, panerola (ca) f Cebuano: ipos, uk-ok Central Melanau: belipeh Chichewa: mphemvu Chinese: Cantonese: 曱甴 (yue) (gaat6 zaat6-2) Eastern Min: 虼蚻 (gâ-săk / gáh-săk) Hakka: 黃蚻 / 黄蚻 (vòng-chha̍t) Hokkien: 虼蚻 (zh-min-nan) (ka-choa̍h) Mandarin: 蟑螂 (zh) (zhāngláng), 蜚蠊 (zh) (fěilián), 偷油婆 (zh) (tōuyóupó) (dialectal), 小強 / 小强 (zh) (xiǎoqiáng) (colloquial) Wu: 蟑螂, 小強 / 小强 (5shiau-jian6) Crimean Tatar: qoñuz Czech: šváb (cs) m Danish: kakerlak (da) c Dutch: kakkerlak (nl) f, sissende kakkerlak (nl) f Dzongkha: ཞོ་ལེམ (zho lem) Esperanto: blato Estonian: prussakas Faroese: grótlús f, (colloquial) kakkulakkur m Finnish: torakka (fi) Fongbe: kokló, kakalaka French: cafard (fr) m, blatte (fr) f, coquerelle (fr) f (Canada) Galician: carroucha (gl) f, cascuda (gl) f, cascudo m Georgian: აბანოს ჭია (abanos č̣ia), ტარაკანი (ka) (ṭaraḳani) German: Schabe (de) f, Kakerlake (de) f Greek: κατσαρίδα (el) f (katsarída) Ancient Greek: σίλφη f (sílphē) Gujarati: વંદો m (vando) Haitian Creole: blat Hausa: kyànkyasṑ m Hebrew: ג׳וּק m (juk), תִּיקָן (he) m (tikan) Hiligaynon: tanga Hindi: तिलचट्टा m (tilcaṭṭā), तिलचटा (hi) m (tilacṭā), चपड़ा (hi) m (capṛā) Hungarian: csótány (hu) Icelandic: kakkalakki (is) m Ido: blato (io) Ilocano: ipes, sipet Indonesian: kecoak (id), kacoa (id), kecoa (id) Ingrian: prusakka, tarakkana Interlingua: blatta Irish: blatóg f Italian: blatta (it) f, scarafaggio (it) m Ivatan: ipues Japanese: ゴキブリ (ja) (gokiburi) Kansai: アブラムシ (ja) (abura-mushi) Kyushu: アマメ (amame) Javanese: coro (jv) Kanakanabu: 'atatavaang Kapampangan: ipas, kasua Kashmiri: ؤٹِل (vạṭil) Kazakh: тарақан (taraqan) Khiamniungan Naga: tākàpkàpnyù Khmer: កន្លាត (km) (kɑnlaat) Kikuyu: nyeje Kimaragang: lipos Korean: 바퀴 (ko) (bakwi), 바퀴벌레 (ko) (bakwibeolle) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سیسرک (sîsirk), سیسارک (ckb) (sîsark) Northern Kurdish: sîsirk (ku) f Kyrgyz: таракан (ky) (tarakan) Lao: ສາບ (sāp), ແມງສາບ (mǣng sāp) Latgalian: brusaks m Latin: blatta (la) f Latvian: prusaks, tarakāns m Lingala: mpese Lithuanian: tarakonas m Macedonian: лебарка f (lebarka), бубашваба f (bubašvaba) (non-standard) Maguindanao: kakaba Malagasy: kalabe (mg) Malay: lipas (ms) Malayalam: പാറ്റ (ml) (pāṟṟa) Maltese: wirdien m, kokroċ m Maori: kēkerengū, kokoroihe, papata Marathi: झुरळ m (jhuraḷ) Meru: njenje Minangkabau: lipeh (min) Mongolian: Cyrillic: жоом (mn) (žoom) Mongolian: ᠵᠣᠣᠮ᠎ᠠ (ǰoom-a) Muong: chản, chản chản Navajo: chʼoshtsoh Neapolitan: scarrafóne Nheengatu: arawé Norwegian: Bokmål: kakerlakk m Nynorsk: kakerlakk m Occitan: barbaròt (oc) m Okinawan: ひーらー (hīrā), 唐びーらー (とーびーらー, tōbīrā) Old Tupi: arabé Ottoman Turkish: حمام بوجكی (hamam böceği) Paicî: nîîwé Pangasinan: asipuet Paraguayan Guarani: (please verify) tarave Pashto: ګړندۍ f (gaṛandǝ́y) Persian: سوسک (fa) (susk), مادر کیکان (mādar-i kaykān) (Afghanistan) Plautdietsch: Schaub f Polish: karaluch (pl) m anim, karakan (pl) m (colloquial), karaczan (pl) m Portuguese: barata (pt) f, carocha (pt) f Romanian: gândac (ro) m, libarcă (ro) f, rus (ro) m Russian: тарака́н (ru) m (tarakán), пруса́к (ru) m (prusák) Saaroa: 'atatavangʉ Sambali: ipoh Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: бубашва́ба f, жо̏ха̄р m (Croatia) Roman: bubašvába (sh) f, žȍhār (sh) m (Croatia) Slovak: šváb (sk) m Slovene: ščurek (sl) m Sotho: lephela Spanish: cucaracha (es) f, jate m (small, Honduras), curiana f, fatula f (large, Puerto Rico) Sranan Tongo: kakalaka Sundanese: ᮎᮥᮎᮥᮍᮥᮊ᮪ (cucunguk) Swahili: mende (sw) class 9/10, kombamwiko (sw) Swedish: kackerlacka (sv) c Sylheti: ꠔꠦꠟꠌꠥꠞꠣ (telsura) Tagal Murut: lipos Tagalog: ipis Tajik: нонхӯрак (tg) (nonxürak) Tamil: கக்கலாத்து (ta) (kakkalāttu), கரப்பான் பூச்சி (karappāṉ pūcci), கரப்பான் (ta) (karappāṉ) Tatar: таракан (taraqan) Telugu: బొద్దింక (te) (boddiṅka) Tetum: barata Thai: แมลงสาบ (th), สาบ (th) (sàap) Tibetan: ཤོམ་འབུ (shom 'bu) Tigrinya: ድዱዕ (dəduʿ) Tswana: lefele Turkish: hamam böceği (tr) Turkmen: saçakçy, tarakan Tutong: lipos Uab Meto: iki Ukrainian: тарга́н m (tarhán), тарака́н m (tarakán), пруса́к m (prusák) Urdu: تل چٹا m (til caṭṭā) Uyghur: مايقۇرت (mayqurt) Uzbek: suvarak (uz), tezgizak (uz), tarakan (uz) Vietnamese: gián (vi) Volapük: skaraf Welsh: chwilen ddu f, blac-pat m West Coast Bajau: bobok Wolof: mbóot mi (wo) Yiddish: טאַראַקאַן (tarakan), רוס m (rus), פּרוסאַק m (prusak), קנײַפּער m (knayper), פֿראַנצויז m (frantsoyz), שוואַב m (shvab) Zazaki: nankewerık Zhuang: sap ǃXóõ: gúle

See also

extant orders of insects in English

• jumping bristletails, archaeognathans (Archaeognatha)
• cockroaches and termites, blattodeans (Blattodea)
• beetles, coleopterans (Coleoptera)
• earwigs, dermapterans (Dermaptera)
• flies, dipterans (Diptera)
• webspinners, embiopterans (Embioptera)
• mayflies, ephemeropterans (Ephemeroptera)
• ice crawlers, grylloblattodeans (Grylloblattodea)
• true bugs, hemipterans (Hemiptera)
• hymenopterans (ants, bees, wasps, etc.) (Hymenoptera)
• butterflies and moths, lepidopterans (Lepidoptera)
• mantises, mantodeans (Mantodea)
• mantophasmids (Mantophasmatodea)
• scorpionflies, mecopterans (Mecoptera)
• megalopterans (alderflies, dobsonflies, fishflies, etc.) (Megaloptera)
• neuropterans (antlions, lacewings, mantisflies, etc.) (Neuroptera)
• damselflies and dragonflies, odonatans (Odonata)
• orthopterans (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, etc.) (Orthoptera)
• stick insects, phasmatodeans (Phasmatodea)
• stoneflies, plecopterans (Plecoptera)
• booklice, psocodeans (Psocodea)
• snakeflies, raphidiopterans (Raphidioptera)
• fleas, siphonapterans (Siphonaptera)
• strepsipterans (Strepsiptera)
• thrips, thysanopterans (Thysanoptera)
• caddis flies, trichopterans (Trichoptera)
• zorapterans (Zoraptera)
• silverfish, zygentomans (Zygentoma)

Further reading

• cockroach on Wikipedia.Wikipedia