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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

boffin.

An engineer or scientist, especially one engaged in technological or military research.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbɒfɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɑfɪn/General-American
  1. An engineer or scientist, especially one engaged in technological or military research.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK · informal
  2. A person with specialized knowledge or skills, especially one who is socially awkward.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK · broadly · informal
  3. A person with specialized knowledge or skills, especially one who is socially awkward. an intellectual; a smart person.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK · broadly · informal
Where this word comes from

Origin unknown; a number of possible etymologies have been suggested, but no conclusive evidence exists. One strong theory conjectures a connection from the "Mr. Boffins" of English novels, such as in Dickens' Our Mutual Friend.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.