goof.
A mistake or error.
Meaning & usage
A mistake or error.
I made a goof in that last calculation.
A mistake or error. An error made during production which finds its way into the final release.
A foolish and/or silly person; a goofball.
Your little brother is a total goof.
A rapist.
Where this word comes from
Perhaps from dialectal English goff (“foolish clown”), from earlier goffe, in which case further etymology is uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English goffen (“to speak in a frivolous manner”), possibly from Old English gaf, ġegaf (“base; wanton; lewd”, adjective), ġegaf (“buffoonery; scurrility”, noun), gaffetung, golfettung (“buffoonery; mockery”). Compare English dialectal gauffin (“lightheaded; foolish; giddy”), Scots gaff, gawf (“to talk loudly; babble”), Scots gaffaw (“a loud laugh”). Alternatively, perhaps from Middle French goffe (“awkward; stupid”). Compare also Spanish gofo, Italian goffo.
To make a mistake.
It's my fault. I goofed.
To engage in mischief.
We were just goofing by painting the neighbor's cat green.
Where this word comes from
Perhaps from dialectal English goff (“foolish clown”), from earlier goffe, in which case further etymology is uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English goffen (“to speak in a frivolous manner”), possibly from Old English gaf, ġegaf (“base; wanton; lewd”, adjective), ġegaf (“buffoonery; scurrility”, noun), gaffetung, golfettung (“buffoonery; mockery”). Compare English dialectal gauffin (“lightheaded; foolish; giddy”), Scots gaff, gawf (“to talk loudly; babble”), Scots gaffaw (“a loud laugh”). Alternatively, perhaps from Middle French goffe (“awkward; stupid”). Compare also Spanish gofo, Italian goffo.
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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.