Other forms: roosters
A rooster is the male chicken that crows at sunrise. The rooster crowed, a proud rooster, rooster and hens.
It crows through the day and not only at dawn, and it has an internal clock that starts it before first light rather than in response to it. It is the American word, which took over from cock through embarrassment about the other sense. Note that the word comes from roost.
1nounroosterA male chicken.
“The rooster crowed loudly and woke up the whole farm.”
rooster is a bird.
Also accepted in games: cockerel, cock
Roost plus -er. The word displaced cock in American English through avoidance of the other sense.
Proto-Germanic
*hrōstaz — wooden framework; grill
Proto-West Germanic
*hrōst
Old English
hrōst — wooden framework of a roof; roost
Middle English
roste — chicken's roost; perch
English
roost
English, today
rooster
From roost + er. In the regions where it is used, displaced cock through taboo avoidance. Compare typologically насе́дка (akin to наси́живать, also akin to насе́ст). roost comes from Middle English roste (“chicken's roost; perch”), from Old English hrōst (“wooden framework of a roof; roost”), from Proto-West Germanic hrōst, from Proto-Germanic hrōstaz (“wooden framework; grill”); see raustijan. Cognate with Dutch roest (“roost”), German Low German Rust (“roost”), German Rost (“grate; gridiron; grill”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA