A cockatoo is a parrot from Australia and nearby islands. The easy way to know it is the bunch of feathers on top of its head: they lie back most of the time, then stand up like a fan or a little crown when the bird is excited, angry, or showing off. Many cockatoos are white, though actually some are pink, grey, or almost black, and some have a bright splash of colour in that head-fan. People keep them as pets because they are clever and can copy sounds, but they are loud, they live a long time, and they chew wood and furniture. In English the word almost always means this bird — speakers do not stretch it much. It is an ordinary nature-and-pet word, not fancy and not slang.