different between fool vs doof

English

Etymology

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of follis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fu?l/
• Rhymes: -u?l

Noun

fool (plural fools)

1. (derogatory) A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.

   You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.

   The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.

   • 1743, Benjamin Franklin

     Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge Chapter 13

     ‘If I coloured at all, Mr Edward,’ said Joe, ‘which I didn’t know I did, it was to think I should have been such a fool as ever to have any hope of her. She’s as far out of my reach as—as Heaven is.’

   • 1895, Rudyard Kipling, If—

     If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
     ?Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools

   • 2001, Starsailor, Poor Misguided Fool

     You're just a poor misguided fool
     Who thinks they know what I should do
     A line for me and a line for you
     I lose my right to a point of view.

   • 2008, Adele, Crazy for You

     And every time I'm meant to be acting sensible
     You drift into my head
     And turn me into a crumbling fool.

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 perhaps in the Bowery.

3. (informal) Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     Can they think me […] their fool or jester?

   • 1975, Foghat, "Fool for the City" (song), Fool for the City (album):

     I'm a fool for the city.

4. (slang, chiefly African-American Vernacular) Buddy, dude, man.
   • 2010, G.C. Deuce, From the Gutter to the Grave: An American Hood Novel, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN), page 291:

     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? […] ”

   • 2012, Peron Long, Livin' Ain't Easy, Urban Books (?ISBN)

     “What up, fool?” he finally responded. “Not too much; fell asleep watching your boys get their asses kicked,” I told him, referring to the Carolina Cougars, the last team he played for before he got sick.

   • 2014, Hitta Lo, Bracing Season I, Kaleidoscopic Publishing (?ISBN)

     Fame leaves out the house and walks to the BP gas station on Alabama Avenue. On the way there he sees his man Mark posted up at the rec center and walks over to holla at him. “What’s up fool?” Mark says while dapping Fame up.

   • 2018, Keith L. Bell, Drought Season Over: The Sequel, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN)

     “What up fool?” Lil Slim said noticing the seriousness in Lil Kilo’s voice. “You ain’t switched up on us have you.” Lil Fresh looked at Lil Kilo like where that come from. “Nigga I’ll neva switch up.” Lil Slim said feeling a little offended.

   • 2020, J. Lewis Johnson, A Dark Night in the Fieldhouse:

     [page 10:] "I knew you'd be scared," Reggie laughed. "What are you doin', foo? You must be crazy. You don't scare me." "Then why did you almost fall out of that chair? I scare everyone."

     [page 38:] "This is coo," said Fred. "It's almost like being there." "We are there, foo!" said Reggie as the boys slapped palms.

5. (cooking) A type of dessert made of puréed fruit and custard or cream.

   an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool

6. (often capitalized, Fool) A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.

Synonyms

• (person with poor judgment): See also Thesaurus:fool
• (person who entertained a sovereign): jester, joker
• (person who talks a lot of nonsense): gobshite

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fool (third-person singular simple present fools, present participle fooling, simple past and past participle fooled)

1. To trick; to deceive
   • 1918, Florence White Williams, The Little Red Hen

     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. To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly
   • 1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar

     Is this a time for fooling?

   • 1972, Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (page 56)

     She's always complaining that she got stuck with the worst possible committee. And that me and Jimmy fool more than we work.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deceive

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

fool (comparative fooler or more fool, superlative foolest or most fool)

1. (informal) Foolish.
   • 2011, Gayle Kaye, Sheriff Takes a Bride

     That was a fool thing to do. You could have gotten yourself shot

   • 1909, Gene Stratton-Porter, A Girl of the Limberlost

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

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

• Olof, floo, loof

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French fol (French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis.

Noun

fool

1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Adjective

fool

1. Alternative form of fole (“foolish”)

Etymology 2

From Old English fola.

Noun

fool

1. Alternative form of fole (“foal”)

Rohingya

Etymology

From Sanskrit ???? (p?gala)

Noun

fool

1. mad man

English

Etymology 1

From doofus, or alternatively from Scots, which uses the word with the same meaning. Scots doof is derived from Low German doof (“deaf”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /du?f/

Noun

doof (plural doofs)

1. (US, slang) A simpleton.

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic, from the sound of a bass drum.

Pronunciation

(General Australian) IPA^(key): /d?f/

• Rhymes: -?f

Noun

doof (countable and uncountable, plural doofs)

1. (Australia, slang, uncountable) A type of music with pronounced bass, typically associated with the modified car scene.
3. (Australia) An outdoor dance party, held in bushland in a remote area or on the outskirts of a city.
   • 2004, Graham St John (editor), Rave Culture and Religion, page 138,

     Dynamics of play and creativity are a prominent catalyst of social relations at both doofs and raves.

   • 2006, Christopher Hugh Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture, Volume 2, page 110,

     Similar themes emerged in the ‘doofs’ of Australian rave culture.

   • 2007, Australian National University Dept of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Aboriginal History, Volume 31, page 76,

     The bush doof is a unique product of post-rave culture and is particularly suited to the expansive Australian landscape.

Derived terms

• doof-doof
• doofer
• doofy

Related terms

• doofus

See also

• doof on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• doosh
• oontz

Anagrams

• food

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch doof

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??f/

Adjective

doof (attributive dowe, comparative dower, superlative doofste)

1. deaf

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /do?f/
• Hyphenation: doof
• Rhymes: -o?f

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch dôof, from Old Dutch d?f, from Proto-West Germanic *daub, from Proto-Germanic *daubaz.

Adjective

doof (comparative dover, superlative doofst)

1. deaf

Inflection

Derived terms

• doofheid
• dove
• doven
• potdoof

Descendants

• Afrikaans: doof
• ? Sranan Tongo: dofu

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

doof

1. first-person singular present indicative of doven
2. imperative of doven

German

Etymology

From German Low German doof (“deaf”), from Middle Low German dôf, from Old Saxon dof, from Proto-West Germanic *daub. Cognate to Upper German taub.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /do?f/

• Inflected forms: IPA^(key): /do?v-/ (predominantly)
• Inflected forms: IPA^(key): /do?f-/ (some speakers in southern Germany and Austria)

Adjective

doof (comparative doofer or döfer or dööfer, superlative am doofsten or am döfsten or am dööfsten)

1. (informal) stupid, dumb.
2. (informal) boring, annoying

Usage notes

• Low German regularly changes its final obstruent f to v or w (IPA: [v]) when a vowel follows: en doof Mann ? einen doven Mann. This sound-change is usually kept in standard German pronunciation, although the forms are always spelt with f. (For more words in which written f may be pronounced [v] compare Elfer, Fünfer, and schief.)
• The alternative comparation forms dööfer, am dööfsten are not officially standard and are sometimes frowned upon.

Declension

Further reading

• “doof” in Duden online
• “doof” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

German Low German

Alternative forms

• dow
• dof (inflected dow-)
• (inflected doow-)

Etymology

From Middle Low German and Old Saxon d?f, from Proto-West Germanic *daub.

Cognate with English deaf. The second meaning stems from the old misconception that dumb or deaf people were mentally disabled. German doof is taken from this word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /do?f/

Adjective

doof (comparative döver, superlative döövst)

1. deaf
2. dumb (not clever)

Declension

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *d?f, from Proto-West Germanic *daub.

Adjective

dôof

1. deaf
2. without feeling, harsh
3. crazy, foolish
4. useless
5. dull, not shining
6. dull, not giving sound
7. dead, having died off, dry (of plants)

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• douf

Derived terms

• dôven

Descendants

• Dutch: doof
  • Afrikaans: doof
  • ? Sranan Tongo: dofu
• Limburgish: douf

Further reading

• “doof”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “doof (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German and Old Saxon d?f, from Proto-West Germanic *daub.

Adjective

doof

1. deaf

Saterland Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian d?f, from Proto-West Germanic *daub. More at deaf.

Adjective

doof

1. deaf