"cowabunga" meaning in English

See cowabunga in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

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

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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.

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