goon

See also go on

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːn

Etymology 1

Shortened from gooney, from obsolete gony ("simpleton", c.1580), of unknown origin. Gony was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (c.1839). Goon first carried the meaning "stupid person" (c.1921).

• The meaning of "hired thug" (c.1938) is largely influenced by the comic strip character Alice the Goon from the Popeye series.
• The "fool" sense was reinforced by the popular radio program, The Goon Show, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.

Noun

goon (plural goons)

1. A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence (also known as a 'hired goon').
2. A fool; someone considered silly, stupid, awkward, or outlandish.
3. (ice hockey, pejorative) An enforcer or fighter.

Derived terms

• goony
• goon squad

See also

• goonie
• gooney
• gooney bird

Translations

A thug

Finnish: korsto (fi)

Portuguese: brutamontes (pt) m.

A fool

Finnish: hölmö (fi), typerys (fi)

Romanian: papagal (ro) m.

Etymology 2

Diminutive slang for flagon

Noun

goon (uncountable)

1. (Australian, uncountable, informal) Cheap or inferior cask wine.

Synonyms

• box wine
• cask wine

Anagrams

• no-go, nogo

---

Japanese

Noun

goon (hiragana ごおん)

1. 呉音: one category of on'yomi (音読み, おんよみ), the Japanese approximation of the original Chinese pronunciation of a kanji character.