Illustration of cockatoo
cockatoo
noun
cock·a·too ˈkä-kə-ˌtü 
plural cockatoos
: any of various large noisy chiefly Australasian crested parrots (family Cacatuidae and especially genus Cacatua)
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web On Tuesday, Bindi Irwin shared a photo on Instagram showing off the moment her and husband Chandler Powell's 1-year-old daughter met the family's cockatoo, named Occa, at their Australia Zoo. 
Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 19 Apr. 2022 Shaun White, and posed for photos with an umbrella cockatoo and a sloth. San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2022 The world of movies and musical comedy and department-store sales was always translated into her own feathery, ornamental style, all cockatoo colors and birthday-cake surfaces. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 For decades, scientists had thought perceiving rhythm was a distinctly human capacity until Snowball, a cockatoo and YouTube star, bobbed his way onto the scene in 2007. Sara Harrison, Wired, 21 Dec. 2021 The study did find that intensive conservation efforts have helped to stem losses in some key bird populations, including the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo and Eastern bristlebird. Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2021 That life is corrosion and decay, blossoms and smiles, the squawk of a cockatoo. New York Times, 6 Sep. 2021 The artist Joseph Cornell once requested a picture of a street urchin with a white cockatoo. New York Times, 3 Aug. 2021 Busting the bin open is no easy task for a cockatoo, requiring an elaborate sequence of lifting, lid holding, walking and flipping steps. Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2021 See More
Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 19 Apr. 2022 Shaun White, and posed for photos with an umbrella cockatoo and a sloth. San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2022 The world of movies and musical comedy and department-store sales was always translated into her own feathery, ornamental style, all cockatoo colors and birthday-cake surfaces. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 For decades, scientists had thought perceiving rhythm was a distinctly human capacity until Snowball, a cockatoo and YouTube star, bobbed his way onto the scene in 2007. Sara Harrison, Wired, 21 Dec. 2021 The study did find that intensive conservation efforts have helped to stem losses in some key bird populations, including the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo and Eastern bristlebird. Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2021 That life is corrosion and decay, blossoms and smiles, the squawk of a cockatoo. New York Times, 6 Sep. 2021 The artist Joseph Cornell once requested a picture of a street urchin with a white cockatoo. New York Times, 3 Aug. 2021 Busting the bin open is no easy task for a cockatoo, requiring an elaborate sequence of lifting, lid holding, walking and flipping steps. Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Dutch kaketoe, from Malay kakatua
First Known Use
1634, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
cockatoo
noun
cock·a·too ˈkä-kə-ˌtü
plural cockatoos
: a large, noisy, and usually brightly colored crested parrot mostly of Australia