fool

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English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis.[1]. Doublet of follis.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /fuːl/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːl

Noun[edit]

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.
    • 1895, Rudyard Kipling, If—
      If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
      ⁠Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools
    • 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.’
    • 1743, Benjamin 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).
    • 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) 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[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]

Translations[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from the noun or verb fool

Adjective[edit]

fool (comparative more fool, superlative 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.

References[edit]

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

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old French fol (French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis.[1]

Noun[edit]

fool

  1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Adjective[edit]

fool

  1. Alternative form of fole (“foolish”)

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old English fola.

Noun[edit]

fool

  1. Alternative form of fole (“foal”)

Rohingya[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Sanskrit पागल (pāgala)

Noun[edit]

fool

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