"cowabunga" meaning in All languages combined

See cowabunga on Wiktionary

Interjection [English]

IPA: /ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/ [General-Australian], /ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/ [UK], /ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-cowabunga.ogg
enPR: kou'ə-bŭngʹə [General-American] Etymology: Unknown, but was popularized (as Kowa-Bunga) by Chief Thunderthud on the American children's show Howdy Doody in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and became associated with American surfing culture. By the early 1980s, it was used as the catch-phrase of Cookie Monster on the American television show Sesame Street, and gained popularity with a broader audience after its use in the American cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (For further treatment, see here.) Etymology templates: {{unknown|en}} Unknown Head templates: {{en-interj}} cowabunga
  1. (slang, originally US, usually humorous) Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy. Wikipedia link: Cookie Monster, Howdy Doody, surfing culture Tags: humorous, slang, usually Categories (topical): Surfing, The Simpsons Synonyms: Kowa-Bunga, cowabonga, kawabonga, kowabonga, kowabunga Synonyms (expressing amazement): wow Synonyms (expressing exuberant approval): yay
    Sense id: en-cowabunga-en-intj-H29BsxCj Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unknown"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown, but was popularized (as Kowa-Bunga) by Chief Thunderthud on the American children's show Howdy Doody in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and became associated with American surfing culture. By the early 1980s, it was used as the catch-phrase of Cookie Monster on the American television show Sesame Street, and gained popularity with a broader audience after its use in the American cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (For further treatment, see here.)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cowabunga",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Surfing",
          "orig": "en:Surfing",
          "parents": [
            "Water sports",
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "The Simpsons",
          "orig": "en:The Simpsons",
          "parents": [
            "American fiction",
            "Animation",
            "Disney",
            "Fiction",
            "United States",
            "Mass media",
            "Comics",
            "Film",
            "Television",
            "Artistic works",
            "North America",
            "Culture",
            "Media",
            "Literature",
            "Entertainment",
            "Broadcasting",
            "Art",
            "America",
            "Society",
            "Communication",
            "Writing",
            "Telecommunications",
            "Earth",
            "All topics",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Technology",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental",
            "Human"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Cowabunga, dude!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1954 Jan, Howdy Doody:",
          "text": "Kowa-Bunga! Then Me Fix You Good! You Be Sorry.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1963 August 9, Time:",
          "text": "Shouting the surfer's cry ‘Cowabunga!’ they climb a 12-ft. wall of water and ‘take the drop’ off its shoulder.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 December 9, The New Yorker, page 115:",
          "text": "Both words turn up in the same sentence—as in ‘Cowabunga, it's humongous!’—when the children crowd around some toy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy."
      ],
      "id": "en-cowabunga-en-intj-H29BsxCj",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, originally US, usually humorous) Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "expressing amazement",
          "word": "wow"
        },
        {
          "sense": "expressing exuberant approval",
          "word": "yay"
        },
        {
          "word": "Kowa-Bunga"
        },
        {
          "word": "cowabonga"
        },
        {
          "word": "kawabonga"
        },
        {
          "word": "kowabonga"
        },
        {
          "word": "kowabunga"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "slang",
        "usually"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cookie Monster",
        "Howdy Doody",
        "surfing culture"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "kou'ə-bŭngʹə",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cowabunga.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9a/En-au-cowabunga.ogg/En-au-cowabunga.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/En-au-cowabunga.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cowabunga"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unknown"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown, but was popularized (as Kowa-Bunga) by Chief Thunderthud on the American children's show Howdy Doody in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and became associated with American surfing culture. By the early 1980s, it was used as the catch-phrase of Cookie Monster on the American television show Sesame Street, and gained popularity with a broader audience after its use in the American cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (For further treatment, see here.)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cowabunga",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English interjections",
        "English lemmas",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with unknown etymologies",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Surfing",
        "en:The Simpsons"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Cowabunga, dude!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1954 Jan, Howdy Doody:",
          "text": "Kowa-Bunga! Then Me Fix You Good! You Be Sorry.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1963 August 9, Time:",
          "text": "Shouting the surfer's cry ‘Cowabunga!’ they climb a 12-ft. wall of water and ‘take the drop’ off its shoulder.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 December 9, The New Yorker, page 115:",
          "text": "Both words turn up in the same sentence—as in ‘Cowabunga, it's humongous!’—when the children crowd around some toy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, originally US, usually humorous) Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "slang",
        "usually"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cookie Monster",
        "Howdy Doody",
        "surfing culture"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "kou'ə-bŭngʹə",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cowabunga.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9a/En-au-cowabunga.ogg/En-au-cowabunga.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/En-au-cowabunga.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "expressing amazement",
      "word": "wow"
    },
    {
      "sense": "expressing exuberant approval",
      "word": "yay"
    },
    {
      "word": "Kowa-Bunga"
    },
    {
      "word": "cowabonga"
    },
    {
      "word": "kawabonga"
    },
    {
      "word": "kowabonga"
    },
    {
      "word": "kowabunga"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cowabunga"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cowabunga meaning in All languages combined (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.