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Fool

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fool¹

  • /fuːl/ UK
  • /fʉwl/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [fʊwl] British, Southern, Standard
  • /foːl/
  • /ful/ US
  • /fʉːl/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [fuːl] Australia, New Zealand
  • /fʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Sounds like full (accents with foot-goose merger or full–fool merger), fall (fool–fall merger) · Rhymes with -uːl

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-der.

Latin follis

Old French folbor.

Middle English fol

English fool

From Middle English fol (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.

noun fools

  1. derogatory A person with poor judgment or little intelligence. You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
  2. historical A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages). 1896, Frederick Peterson IN Popular Science Monthly Volume 50 December 1896 , Idiots Savants This court fool could say bright things on occasion, but his main use to the ladies and lords of the palace was to serve as victim to practical jokes, cruel, coarse, and vulgar enough to be appreciated perha
  3. A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form of comic relief; often used as a source of insight or pathos for the audience, as such characters are generally less bound by social expectations.
  4. Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked; dupe. Such clouds of nameless trouble cross ⁠All night below the darken’d eyes; ⁠With morning wakes the will, and cries, ‘Thou shalt not be the fool of loss.’
  5. informal Someone who derives pleasure from something specified. Can they think me […] their fool or jester?
  6. slang An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man. Upon opening the door, Trech was suddenly drawn aback by the shocking presence of the armed goon standing directly in front of him. “Yo, what up fool? […]”
  7. A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.

Similar: alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard, berk, birdbrain, blither, bobchin, bonehead, bozo, buffoon

verb fools · fooling · fooled

  1. transitive To trick; to deceive. She bit it gently and found that it resembled a worm in no way whatsoever as to taste although because it was long and slender, a Little Red Hen might easily be fooled by its appearance.
  2. intransitive To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly. 1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar Is this a time for fooling?
  3. archaic To make a fool of; to make act the fool. They fool me to the top of my bent.

adjective fooler · more fool · foolest · most fool

  1. informal Foolish. Of all the fool, fruitless jobs, making anything of a creature that begins by deceiving her, is the foolest a sane woman ever undertook.

fool²

Where it comes from

From French fouler (“to trample”).

noun fools

  1. A type of dessert made of puréed fruit and custard or cream. an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool

Similar: alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard, berk, birdbrain, blither, bobchin, bonehead, bozo, buffoon

Fool³

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of fool (“a particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester”).fool

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