Where does “cockatoo” come from?

Cockatoo comes from Dutch kaketoe, from Indonesian kakatua, from Malay tuha, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian kaka, a word for parrot.

cockatoo (English): A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved...

Definitions

  1. A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved...

Ancestry of “cockatoo”, step by step

cockatoo traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Dutch kaketoe

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Dutchkaketoecockatoo, parrot of the family Cacatuidae
2Malaykakaktuacockatoo; pincers
3Malaytuaold; ripe
4Classical Malaytuaold; ripe
5MalaytuhaObsolete form of tua
6Proto-Malayictuha—
7Proto-Malayo-Chamictuha—
8Proto-Malayo-Sumbawantuha—
9Proto-Malayo-Polynesian(ma-)tuqahold
10Proto-Austronesian(ma-)tuqaSold

via Malay kakatua

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1MalaykakatuaAlternative spelling of kakaktua

Words derived from “cockatoo”

Every word from Proto-Austronesian (ma-)tuqaS →Every word from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (ma-)tuqah →Every word from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan tuha →