From Proto-Yoruboid *ù-kó, equivalent to ù- (“nominalizing prefix”) + kó (“to gather, to scoop up”). While in Standard Yoruba and Northwest Yoruba, the alternative form ìkó only translates to the beak of the bird (with the term ètè referring to the mammalian lip), in the Central and Southeast Yoruba dialects ùkó, it retains its general meaning as a term for the lip of any mammal and the beak of a bird. Compare with Igala ùkó (“lip”).