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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

goo.

Any semi-solid or liquid substance; especially one that is sticky, gummy or slippery, unpleasant, and of vague or unknown composition, such as slime or semen.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡuː/

  1. Any semi-solid or liquid substance; especially one that is sticky, gummy or slippery, unpleasant, and of vague or unknown composition, such as slime or semen.

    informal · uncountable · usually
    I stepped in some goo and had a terrible time getting the sticky stuff off my shoes.

  2. Excessive, showy sentimentality.

    figuratively · uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English burgood Proto-Germanic *bermô? Proto-West Germanic *bermō Old English beormader. Welsh burym Proto-Indo-European *keh₂ulisder. Latin caulisbor. Proto-Brythonic *kawl Middle Welsh cawl Welsh cawl ? Persian برغولder. Persian پرغولder. Arabic بُرْغُل (burḡul)der.? Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwstus Proto-Italic *gustus Latin gustus Middle French goûtder. Middle French ragoûterder. French ragoûtbor. English ragout? English burgoo? Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *glóh₁ytn̥ Proto-Italic *gloiten Latin glūten Late Latin glūs Old French glubor. Middle English glew English glue? English goo American English, attested since 1903, possibly from burgoo (“thick porridge”); alternatively, an alteration of glue.

verb/ɡuː/

  1. To apply goo to something.

    transitive
    They gooed their hair with some fragrant styling product.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English burgood Proto-Germanic *bermô? Proto-West Germanic *bermō Old English beormader. Welsh burym Proto-Indo-European *keh₂ulisder. Latin caulisbor. Proto-Brythonic *kawl Middle Welsh cawl Welsh cawl ? Persian برغولder. Persian پرغولder. Arabic بُرْغُل (burḡul)der.? Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwstus Proto-Italic *gustus Latin gustus Middle French goûtder. Middle French ragoûterder. French ragoûtbor. English ragout? English burgoo? Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *glóh₁ytn̥ Proto-Italic *gloiten Latin glūten Late Latin glūs Old French glubor. Middle English glew English glue? English goo American English, attested since 1903, possibly from burgoo (“thick porridge”); alternatively, an alteration of glue.

noun/ɡuː/

  1. A noise made by a baby trying to imitate speech.

    The infant's goos and gahs were endearing.
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic of baby talk.

verb/ɡuː/

  1. To produce baby talk.

    intransitive
    The baby gooed while daddy made sappy faces at it.
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic of baby talk.

verb/ɡuː/

  1. Elongated form of go.

  2. Pronunciation spelling of go.

    Northern-England · Scotland · West-Midlands · alt-of · pronunciation-spelling
Where this word comes from

See go.

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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.