cony

Alternative forms

• (rabbit): coney, cunny, connie

Etymology

From Middle English coni, from conies, from Anglo-Norman conis, the plural of conil, from Vulgar Latin *cuniclus (“rabbit”), from Latin cuniculus (“rabbit”), from Proto-Basque *(H)unči (compare Basque untxi). The original pronunciation was /ˈkʌni/ (for the spelling compare honey and money), but the similarity to cunt (and particularly homophony with cunny) led through taboo avoidance both to the word's displacement in the main by rabbit and bunny and to the spelling pronunciation /ˈkəʊni/ becoming standard.

Pronunciation

• (historical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌni/

  Rhymes: -ʌni

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊni/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊni/

  Rhymes: -əʊni

Noun

cony (plural conies)

1. A rabbit, especially the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus (formerly known as Lepus cuniculus).
2. (Britain, dialect) Rabbit fur.
3. Locally for other rabbit-like or hyrax-like animals, such as the Cape hyrax (das, dassie) or the pika (Ochotona princeps, formerly Lagomys princeps).
   1. Used in the Old Testament as a translation of Hebrew שָׁפָן‎ (shafan), thought to be the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis, syn. Hyrax syriacus).
4. (obsolete) A simpleton; one who may be taken in by a cony-catcher.
   • 1599, Diet's Dry Dinner:

     It is a most simple animal; whence are derived our usual phrases of cony and cony catcher.

5. An edible West Indian fish, a grouper given in different sources as: Epinephelus apua, the hind of Bermuda; nigger-fish, Epinephelus punctatus; Cephalopholis fulvus.
6. Several species of tropical west Atlantic groupers of family Epinephelidae, such as the mutton hamlet, graysby, Cuban coney, and rooster hind.
7. (Britain, dialect) The burbot.

References

• cony in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “cony” in C[harles] T[albut] Onions, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 3rd edition, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1973, OCLC 639811675, page 420.
• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3.

Anagrams

• coyn, cyno-, cyon

Etymology

From Latin cunnus, compare Portuguese cona and Spanish coño.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈkoɲ/

Noun

cony m (plural conys)

1. (vulgar) vagina; vulva

Interjection

cony!

1. Expression of frustration or surprise.