WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
coot•er
(ko̅o̅′tər),USA pronunciation n.
- Reptiles, Dialect Terms[Chiefly Southern U.S.]any of several large aquatic turtles of the southern U.S. and northern Mexico.
- Bambara, Malinke kuta turtle (with related forms in other Niger-Congo languages); compare coot to copulate (of sea turtles), first attested in the Caribbean in 1667
- said to be 1820–30