fool

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English fōl (“fool”), from Old French fol (French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fuːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːl
• Rhymes: -ʊəl

Noun

fool (plural fools)

1. (pejorative) 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.

   • Franklin

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

2. (historical) A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
3. (informal) Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
   • Milton

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

   an apricot fool; a gooseberry fool

5. (often capitalized, Fool) A particular card in a tarot deck.

Synonyms

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

Translations

person with poor judgement or little intelligence

• Afrikaans: flous
• Albanian: budalla (sq), idiot m
• Arabic: مغفل m (muġáffal), أحمق m (ʾáḥmaq)
• Armenian: հիմար (himar)
• Asturian: tontu, neciu (ast), ñeciu (ast) m
• Azeri: abdal, axmaq (az)
• Belarusian: ду́рань m (dúranʹ)
• Bengali: মূর্খ (murkhô)
• Bulgarian: абда́л (bg) m (abdál), глупа́к (bg) m (glupák)
• Burmese: ဗာလ (my) (bala.)
• Catalan: beneit m, idiota
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傻瓜 (zh) (shǎguā), 蠢人 (zh) (chǔnrén), 愚人 (zh) (yúrén), 傻子 (zh) (shǎzi), 笨蛋 (zh) (bèndàn), 蠢貨, 蠢货 (zh) (chǔnhuò), 呆子 (zh) (dāizi)

  Min Nan: 歁囝 (khám-kiáⁿ)

• Chuvash: ухмах (uhmah)
• Czech: hlupák (cs) m, blázen (cs) m, šašek, pošetilec m, blbec (cs) m, blb (cs) m, blboun m, pitomec (cs) m
• Danish: fjols n
• Dutch: dwaas (nl) m
• Esperanto: malsaĝulo
• Estonian: loll (et), narr, tobu, tola (et)
• Faroese: dári m, býttlingur m
• Finnish: hullu, typerys (fi), hölmö (fi), idiootti (fi), houkka, pöljä (fi), pöllö (fi), höhlä, tollo (fi), tomppeli (fi), narri (fi), pöhkö (fi)
• French: imbécile (fr) m, idiot (fr) m
• Galician: choucho m
• Georgian: სულელი (suleli), ბრიყვი (briqvi), დებილი (debili), იდიოტი (idioti)
• German: Tor (de) m, Dummkopf (de) m, Narr (de) m, (female) dumme Gans f, Trottel (de) m
• Greek: ανόητος (el) m (anóitos)
• Hebrew: גולם (he) (golem)
• Hindi: मूर्ख m (mūrkh)
• Icelandic: bjáni (is)
• Indonesian: bodoh (id), goblok (id), tolol (id), sontoloyo (id)
• Irish: amadán m, óinseach f, leibide f
• Italian: imbecille (it) m, idiota (it) m, (familiar) scemo (it) m, sciocco (it) m, buffone (it) m
• Japanese: 愚か者 (ja) (おろかもの, orokamono), 惚け (ぼけ, boke), 馬鹿 (ja) (ばか, baka), 愚者 (ja) (ぐしゃ, gusha), あほ (aho) (also: アホ (aho)), 戯け(たわけ) (tawake)
• Javanese: sontoloyo
• Kazakh: ақымақ (aqımaq)
• Khmer: ល្ងីល្ងើ (km) (lŋii-lŋəə), មនុស្សល្ងីល្ងើ (mɔnuh lŋii-lŋəə)
• Korean: 바보 (ko) (babo)
• Kyrgyz: акмак (ky) (akmak), келесоо (ky) (kelesoo)

• Latin: stultus m
• Latvian: muļķis m, muļķe f, neprātis m, neprāte f, duraks (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kvailys (lt) m
• Macedonian: абдал m (abdal)
• Malay: bodoh
• Maltese: iqarqu
• Maori: ngoungoua
• Norwegian: tosk m, dust (no) m, tulling (no) m
• Persian: احمق (fa) (ahmaq), خنگ (fa) (xeng), ابله (fa) (ablah)
• Polish: głupek (pl) m, dureń (pl) m, głupiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: bobo (pt) m, tolo (pt) m, idiota (pt) m, imbecil (pt)
• Romanian: prost (ro) m
• Russian: дура́к (ru) m (durák), глупе́ц (ru) m (glupéc), ду́рень (ru) m (dúrenʹ) (male), ду́ра (ru) f (dúra) (female), деби́л (ru) m (debíl), балбе́с (ru) m (balbés), болва́н (ru) m (bolván), дурале́й (ru) m (duraléj), идио́т (ru) m (idiót), идио́тка (ru) f (idiótka), тупи́ца (ru) m, f (tupíca)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese Sardinian: ballaloi, grìnci

• Scottish Gaelic: amadan m, òinseach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: глупак m, глупан m, будала m, f, луђак m, бузда m, абдал m

  Roman: glupak m, glupan (sh) m, budala (sh) m, f, luđak (sh) m, buzda m, abdal m

• Sicilian: babbu (scn) m
• Sinhalese: මෝඩයා (si) (mōḍayā), මැට්ටා (mæṭṭā)
• Slovak: blázon m, hlupák m, blbec m
• Slovene: norec (sl) m, neumnež m, bedak (sl) m, bizgec m, budalo n, bukselj m
• Spanish: bobo (es) m, tonto (es) m, necio (es) m, imbécil (es)
• Swahili: fala (sw), mjinga (sw), juha (sw)
• Swedish: dåre (sv) c
• Tajik: аҳмақ (ahmaq), аблаҳ (ablah)
• Tamil: முட்டாள் (ta) (muṭṭāḷ)
• Thai: คนโง่ (kon ngôh), ตุ่น (dtùn)
• Tocharian A: āknats
• Tocharian B: aknātsa
• Turkish: aptal (tr), budala (tr), salak (tr), ahmak (tr)
• Turkmen: paňkelle, samsyk
• Ukrainian: ду́рень (uk) m (dúrenʹ)
• Urdu: مورکھ m (mūrkh)
• Uzbek: ahmoq (uz), tentak (uz)
• Vietnamese: thằng ngu

jester

• Armenian: խեղկատակ (xełkatak)
• Bulgarian: шут (bg) m (šut)
• Czech: šašek m, klaun m
• Danish: nar c
• Finnish: narri (fi), hovinarri
• French: fou (fr) m, bouffon (fr) m
• German: Narr (de) m
• Greek: γελωτοποιός (el) m (gelotopoiós), (slang) τζουτζές (el) m (tzoutzés)
• Italian: buffone (it) m, giullare (it) m, pagliaccio, buffone di corte m
• Japanese: 道化 師 (どうけし, dōkeshi)
• Lithuanian: juokdarys (lt) m

• Norwegian: narr (no) m
• Portuguese: bobo da corte m, bobo (pt) m
• Romanian: bufon (ro) m
• Russian: шут (ru) m (šut), скоморо́х (ru) m (skomoróx)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: dvorska luda f, šutnik m, šut (sh) m, luda (sh) f, luđak (sh) m

• Spanish: bufón (es) m
• Swahili: fala (sw), mjinga (sw)
• Swedish: narr (sv) c

one who derives pleasure from something specified

• Finnish: -hullu

dessert

• Bulgarian: кисел (bg) m (kisel)
• Finnish: hedelmärahka (with fruit), marjarahka (with berries)
• German: Mus (de) n

• Swahili: fala (sw), mjinga (sw)
• Swedish: kräm (sv) c

tarot card

• Catalan: el boig
• Czech: blázen (cs)
• Dutch: dwaas (nl)
• Finish: narri
• French: le mat, le fou
• German: der Narr
• Greek: κάρτα ταρό f (kárta taró)
• Hungarian: bolond (hu)

• Italian: il matto, il folle
• Korean: 광대 (ko) (gwangdae)
• Polish: głupiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: louco m
• Spanish: el loco m, el bufón m
• Swahili: fala (sw)

Verb

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

1. To trick; to make a fool of someone.
2. To play the fool; to trifle; to toy; to spend time in idle sport or mirth.
   • Dryden

     Is this a time for fooling?

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:deceive

Translations

to trick; to make a fool of someone

• Armenian: հիմարացնել (himaracʿnel)
• Catalan: enganar
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 糊弄 (zh) (hùnong), 愚弄 (zh) (yúnòng)

• Czech: obelhávat, klamat
• Dutch: bedriegen (nl), in de maling nemen
• Finnish: huijata (fi) (1), narrata (fi) (1), puliveivata (1) (colloquial)
• French: duper (fr), tromper (fr), (colloquial) rouler (fr)
• German: täuschen (de), schwindeln (de), betrügen (de), (colloquial) verarschen (de)
• Greek: ξεγελάω (xegeláo)
• Hungarian: bolondít (hu)
• Italian: ingannare (it), farsi beffe di s.o., fare lo sciocco, scherzare (it)

• Japanese: ばかにする (baka ni suru)
• Norwegian: narre (no), lure (no)
• Polish: oszukać (pl) pf
• Portuguese: enganar (pt), lograr (pt)
• Romanian: păcăli (ro), prosti (ro)
• Russian: дури́ть (ru) impf (durítʹ), обдури́ть (ru) pf (obdurítʹ), дура́чить (ru) impf (duráčitʹ), одура́чить (ru) pf (oduráčitʹ), надува́ть (ru) impf (naduvátʹ), наду́ть (ru) pf (nadútʹ) (colloquial, lit.: "to inflate")
• Serbo-Croatian: насамарити, nasamariti
• Slovak: okabátiť
• Spanish: engañar (es), engrupir (es), tomar el pelo (es)
• Swahili: fala (sw), mjinga (sw)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb fool

befool fool about fool around foolhardy foolish foolishness foolometer fool's errand

fool's gold fool's paradise foolproof more fool you play the fool suffer fools gladly there's no fool like an old fool

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Middle English

Etymology

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

Noun

fool (plural fools)

1. fool

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Rohingya

Noun

fool

1. mad man

• ^ fool in: T. F. Hoad, Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-283098-8