/ ˈkɒkni; NAmE ˈkɑːkni/ noun
1.
[ C ] a person from the East End of London
2.
[ U ] the way of speaking that is typical of cockneys :
a cockney accent
For more information see the Cultural Guide
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (denoting a pampered child): origin uncertain; it is apparently not the same word as Middle English cokeney cock's egg , denoting a small misshapen egg (probably from cock + obsolete ey egg ). A later sense was a town-dweller regarded as affected or puny , from which the current sense arose in the early 17th cent.