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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

goofy.

Quirky or silly, often in a humorous manner; daft.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɡuːfi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡufi/General-American
  1. Quirky or silly, often in a humorous manner; daft.

    Canada · US · informal
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English goof Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English goofy From goof (“foolish and/or silly person”, noun) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense form ‘having the quality of’; and forming informal nouns denoting associated persons or things).

noun/ˈɡuːfi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡufi/General-American
  1. Synonym of goof (“a foolish and/or silly person”).

    Canada · US · informal
  2. A button (“clothing fastener”) in the shape of a person, object, etc., often collected as a hobby.

    Canada · US · historical · informal
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English goof Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English goofy From goof (“foolish and/or silly person”, noun) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense form ‘having the quality of’; and forming informal nouns denoting associated persons or things).

adj/ˈɡuːfi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡufi/General-American
  1. Of a person: having crooked, especially protruding, front teeth; buck-toothed.

    Canada · US · informal · not-comparable
  2. Riding on a skateboard, snowboard, or surfboard with one's right foot forward.

    Canada · US · informal · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Goofy, the name of a Walt Disney cartoon character in the form of an anthropomorphic dog, from goofy (adjective): see etymology 1. Etymology 2, adjective sense 1 (“having crooked, especially protruding, front teeth”) refers the character’s buckteeth, while etymology 2, adjective sense 2 (“riding with one’s right foot forward”) and the corresponding adverb and noun senses refer to the character being depicted surfing in that manner in the cartoon Hawaiian Holiday (1937).

adv/ˈɡuːfi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡufi/General-American
  1. Of riding on a skateboard, snowboard, or surfboard: with one's right foot forward.

    Canada · US · informal · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Goofy, the name of a Walt Disney cartoon character in the form of an anthropomorphic dog, from goofy (adjective): see etymology 1. Etymology 2, adjective sense 1 (“having crooked, especially protruding, front teeth”) refers the character’s buckteeth, while etymology 2, adjective sense 2 (“riding with one’s right foot forward”) and the corresponding adverb and noun senses refer to the character being depicted surfing in that manner in the cartoon Hawaiian Holiday (1937).

noun/ˈɡuːfi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡufi/General-American
  1. A skateboarder, snowboarder, or surfer who rides their board with the right foot forward; a goofy-foot.

    Canada · US · informal
Where this word comes from

From Goofy, the name of a Walt Disney cartoon character in the form of an anthropomorphic dog, from goofy (adjective): see etymology 1. Etymology 2, adjective sense 1 (“having crooked, especially protruding, front teeth”) refers the character’s buckteeth, while etymology 2, adjective sense 2 (“riding with one’s right foot forward”) and the corresponding adverb and noun senses refer to the character being depicted surfing in that manner in the cartoon Hawaiian Holiday (1937).

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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.