cowabunga

English

Alternative forms

• Kowa-Bunga, cowabonga, kawabonga, kowabonga, kowabunga

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.)

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌkæɔəˈbaŋɡə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/
• (General American) enPR: kou'ə-bŭngʹə, IPA^(key): /ˌkaʊəˈbʌŋɡə/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Interjection

cowabunga

1. (slang, originally US, usually humorous) Expressing amazement, enthusiasm, or joy.
   • 1954 Jan, Howdy Doody:

     Kowa-Bunga! Then Me Fix You Good! You Be Sorry.

   • 1963 August 9, Time:

     Shouting the surfer's cry ‘Cowabunga!’ they climb a 12-ft. wall of water and ‘take the drop’ off its shoulder.

   • 1991 December 9, The New Yorker, page 115:

     Both words turn up in the same sentence—as in ‘Cowabunga, it's humongous!’—when the children crowd around some toy.

   Cowabunga, dude!

Synonyms

• (expressing amazement): See Thesaurus:wow
• (expressing exuberant approval): See Thesaurus:yay

Translations

expression of amazement or enthusiasm — see wow

expression of joy — see yes,‎ yay

References

• “cowabunga, int.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2007.