fool

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): /fuːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːl

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.

   • 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.

   • (Can we date this quote by 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. (slang) Buddy, dude, person.
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

Translations

person with poor judgement or little intelligence

• Afrikaans: flous
• Albanian: budalla (sq), idiot (sq) m
• Arabic: مُغَفَّل‎‎ m (muḡaffal), أَحْمَق‎‎ m (ʾaḥmaq)
• Armenian: հիմար (hy) (himar)
• Asturian: tontu, neciu (ast), ñeciu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: abdal, axmaq (az)
• Belarusian: ду́рань m (dúranʹ)
• Bengali: মূর্খ (mūrkh)
• Bulgarian: абда́л (bg) m (abdál), глупа́к (bg) m (glupák)
• Burmese: ဗာလ (my) (bala.)
• Catalan: beneit (ca) m, idiota (ca)
• Chichewa: chitsiru
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傻瓜 (zh) (shǎguā), 蠢人 (zh) (chǔnrén), 愚人 (zh) (yúrén), 傻子 (zh) (shǎzi), 笨蛋 (zh) (bèndàn), 蠢貨 (zh), 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 (cs), pošetilec m, blbec (cs) m, blb (cs) m, blboun m, pitomec (cs) m, ňouma (cs) m
• Danish: fjols n, tåbe n
• Dutch: dwaas (nl) m, dwazin f, domme gans f, imbeciel (nl) m, imbeciele (nl) f
• Esperanto: malsaĝulo
• Estonian: loll (et), narr, tobu, tola (et)
• Faroese: dári m, býttlingur m
• Finnish: hullu (fi), typerys (fi), hölmö (fi), idiootti (fi), houkka (fi), pöljä (fi), pöllö (fi), höhlä (fi), tollo (fi), tomppeli (fi), narri (fi), pöhkö (fi)
• French: imbécile (fr) m, idiot (fr) m
• Galician: choucho m
• Georgian: სულელი (suleli), ბრიყვი (briq̇vi), დებილი (ka) (debili), იდიოტი (idioṭi)
• German: Tor (de) m, Törin f, Dummkopf (de) m, Narr (de) m, Närrin f, dumme Gans f, (female) Trottel (de) m

  Alemannic German: Lööl m

• Greek: ανόητος (el) m (anóitos)

  Ancient Greek: ἄφρων (áphrōn)

• Gujarati: મૂર્ખ (mūrkh), મૂરખ (mūrakh), ચોદુ (codu) (slang)
• Hebrew: גולם \ גֹּלֶם‎‎ (he) m (gólem)
• Hindi: मूर्ख (hi) m (mūrkh)
• Icelandic: bjáni (is)
• Indonesian: bego (id), tolol (id)
• Irish: amadán m, óinseach f, leibide f, baothán m
• 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 (kk) (aqımaq)
• Khmer: ល្ងីល្ងើ (km) (lŋii-lŋəə), មនុស្សល្ងីល្ងើ (mɔnuh lŋii-lŋəə)
• Korean: 바보 (ko) (babo), 백치 (baekchi)

• Kyrgyz: акмак (ky) (akmak), келесоо (ky) (kelesoo)
• Lao: ຄົນໂງ່ (khon ngō)
• Latgalian: cuļss, nagudrais
• Latin: stultus m
• Latvian: muļķis (lv) m, muļķe f, neprātis m, neprāte f, duraks (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kvailys (lt) m
• Macedonian: абдал m (abdal)
• Malay: bodoh
• Maltese: iqarqu
• Maori: ngoungoua, hukehuke, hākawa, kāeaea
• 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: ballaloi, grìnci

• Scottish Gaelic: amadan m, òinseach f
• Serbo-Croatian: bedak (sh) m

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

  Roman: glupak (sh) 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 (sk) m, blbec (sk) 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 (tg) (ahmaq), аблаҳ (tg) (ablah)
• Tamil: முட்டாள் (ta) (muṭṭāḷ)
• Thai: คนโง่ (kon-ngôo), ตุ่น (dtùn), ควาย (th) (kwaai)
• Tocharian A: āknats
• Tocharian B: aknātsa
• Turkish: aptal (tr), budala (tr), salak (tr), ahmak (tr)
• Turkmen: paňkelle, samsyk
• Ukrainian: ду́рень (uk) m (dúrenʹ), те́лепень (télepenʹ), йо́лоп (jólop)
• Urdu: مورکھ‎‎ m (mūrkh)
• Uzbek: ahmoq (uz), tentak (uz)
• Vietnamese: thằng ngu
• Yiddish: נאַר‎‎ m (nar)

jester

• Armenian: խեղկատակ (hy) (xełkatak)
• Bulgarian: шут (bg) m (šut)
• Czech: šašek (cs) m, klaun m
• Danish: nar c
• Finnish: narri (fi), hovinarri (fi)
• French: fou (fr) m, bouffon (fr) m
• German: Narr (de) m, Närrin f, Eulenspiegel m, Ulenspiegel m
• Greek: γελωτοποιός (el) m (gelotopoiós), (slang) τζουτζές (el) m (tzoutzés)
• Italian: buffone (it) m, giullare (it) m, pagliaccio (it), 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 (fi)

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: boig (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 愚人 (jyu⁴ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 愚人 (zh) (yúrén)

• Czech: blázen (cs)
• Dutch: dwaas (nl)
• Finnish: narri (fi)
• French: mat (fr), fou (fr)
• German: der Narr

• Greek: κάρτα ταρό f (kárta taró)
• Hungarian: bolond (hu)
• Italian: matto (it), folle (it)
• Korean: 광대 (ko) (gwangdae)
• Polish: głupiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: louco (pt) m
• Spanish: loco (es) m, bufón (es) 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?

   • 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

Translations

to trick; to make a fool of someone

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

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

• Czech: obelhávat, klamat
• Dutch: bedriegen (nl), in de maling nemen
• Finnish: huijata (fi), narrata (fi); puliveivata (colloquial)
• French: duper (fr), tromper (fr), (colloquial) rouler (fr)
• German: täuschen (de), schwindeln (de), betrügen (de), (colloquial) verarschen (de), vormachen (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)
• Maori: whakatūaho
• 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 (sh)
• Slovak: okabátiť
• Spanish: engañar (es), engrupir (es), tomar el pelo (es)
• Swahili: fala (sw), mjinga (sw)

to play the fool, to act silly

• Maori: whakaheahea

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb fool

• April Fools' Day
• befool
• fool about
• fool around
• foolhardy
• foolish
• foolishness
• foolometer
• fool's errand

• fool's gold
• fool's paradise
• foolproof
• more fool you
• nobody's fool
• play the fool
• suffer fools gladly
• there's no fool like an old fool

Anagrams

• Olof, floo, loof

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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”)

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Rohingya

Etymology

From Sanskrit पागल (pāgala)

Noun

fool

1. mad man
2. ^ fool in: T. F. Hoad, Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford University Press, 2003, →ISBN