cockerel

noun

Etymology: From Middle English kokerel. By surface analysis, cock + -rel.

1. A young male chicken.

   ““Mrs. Boast can’t have got all these from one hatching,” [Ma] said. “I do believe there’s not more than two cockerels among them.” “The Boasts have got such a head-start with chickens, likely they’re planning to eat friers this summer,” said Pa. “It may be she took a few cockerels out of this flock, looking on them as meat.””

   “He had made arrangements with the cockerel to call him three-quarters of an hour earlier in the mornings instead of half an hour.”