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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

boo.

A loud exclamation intended to scare someone. Usually used when one has been hidden from the target, and then appears unexpectedly.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

intj/buː/
  1. A loud exclamation intended to scare someone. Usually used when one has been hidden from the target, and then appears unexpectedly.

  2. An exclamation used by a member of an audience, as at a stage play or sporting event, to indicate derision or disapproval.

Where this word comes from

From earlier (15c.) boh, coined to create a loud and startling sound. Compare Middle English bus! (“bang!”, interjection), Latin boō (“cry aloud, roar, shout”, verb), Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “shout”, verb).

noun/buː/
  1. A derisive shout of the word 'boo' made to indicate disapproval.

Where this word comes from

From earlier (15c.) boh, coined to create a loud and startling sound. Compare Middle English bus! (“bang!”, interjection), Latin boō (“cry aloud, roar, shout”, verb), Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “shout”, verb).

verb/buː/
  1. To shout extended boos derisively.

    intransitive
    When he took the podium, the crowd booed.
  2. To shout extended boos at, as a form of disapproval or derision.

    transitive
    The protesters loudly booed the visiting senator.
Where this word comes from

From earlier (15c.) boh, coined to create a loud and startling sound. Compare Middle English bus! (“bang!”, interjection), Latin boō (“cry aloud, roar, shout”, verb), Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “shout”, verb).

noun/buː/
  1. A close acquaintance or significant other.

    Canada · US · slang
Where this word comes from

From beau, from French beau. First appears c. 1988 in the Washington Post: See the cite below.

noun/buː/
  1. Cannabis.

    slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Of unknown origin, possibly from boojum, from a fancied resemblance of the plants. First appears c. 1959 in Esquire Magazine.

verb/buː/
  1. To make a sound characteristic of cattle; to moo.

    Northern-England · archaic · intransitive
Where this word comes from

Likely onomatopoeic.

noun/buː/
  1. A tail feather from an ostrich.

Where this word comes from

Dubious; perhaps adaptation of French beau (“beautiful”).

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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.