goblin

See also: GOBLin

English

A modern goblin.

Etymology

From Middle English gobelyn, from Old Northern French gobelin (compare Norman goubelin, Walloon gobelin), possibly a blend of Old Dutch *kobeholdo (“goblin”) (compare Dutch kabouter, German Kobold) and Late Latin cobalus (“mountain sprite”), from Ancient Greek κόβαλος (kóbalos, “rogue, knave; goblin”). Displaced native Old English pūca from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒb.lɪn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑb.lɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: GOBLin
• Rhymes: -ɒblɪn
• Hyphenation: gob‧lin

Noun

goblin (plural goblins)

1. (fantasy) A malevolent and grotesque diminutive humanoid, often associated with orcs or trolls.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:goblin

   • c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):

     From yͤ hagg & hungry Goblin,
     yͭ into raggs would rend yee,
     & yͤ spirit yͭ stand’s by yͤ naked man,
     in yͤ booke of moones defend yee

   • 1872, George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin, page 50:

     " […] If he had struck a stroke more to the side just here," said the goblin, tapping the very stone, as it seemed to Curdie, against which his head lay, "he would have been through; but he's a couple of yards past it now, and if he follow the lode it will be a week before it leads him in. […] "

   • 2006, Charlotte Bishop, Norty: The Chosen Ones, page 187:

     At last the goblins had a chance to rid themselves of one of the troublesome defenders, and two goblin warriors snatched the opportunity.

   • 2010, Thom L. Nichols, War: Return of the Elves, Part 1, page 37:

     The goblin shifted the two younger ones closer to him. It looked like he was hiding behind them, using them as a shield.
     The goblin looked pure evil. His eyes were brown.

   • 2010, D. S. Macleod, The Middle Times: Rise of the Goblin King, page 229:

     I shall send another entourage of goblins back here to Desput with the goblins’ new ally the Pixy! These creatures deserve the same respect as any other goblin.

   • 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8841, page 76:

     Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

2. (geology) A hoodoo.
   • 1975 June, United States Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System Draft Environmental Impact Statement part V: North Border, volume 1, page 209:

     Layers of sandstone serve as capstones of pillars and buttes; other layers of differing hardness yield erosional goblins of myriad form.

3. Short for goblin shark.
   • 2014, Mary L. Peachin, Underwater Encounters: What You Should Know about Sharks:

     Goblins are mainly found (when they are found at all) in deep waters.

Derived terms

• clout goblin
• crotch goblin
• gobbo
• goblette
• goblincore
• goblindom
• goblinesque
• gobliness
• goblinish
• goblinism
• goblinize
• goblinkind
• goblinlike
• goblin mode
• goblinoid
• goblinry
• goblin shark
• goblin spider (family Oonopidae spp.)
• green goblin
• hobgoblin
• SARM goblin
• tren goblin

Translations

hostile diminutive humanoid in fantasy literature

• Basque: iratxo, intxisu
• Breton: korrigan (br) m
• Bulgarian: го́блин m (góblin), таласъ́м (bg) m (talasǎ́m)
• Catalan: follet (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哥布林 (zh) (gēbùlín), 妖怪 (zh) (yāoguài)

• Cornish: bocka m
• Czech: šotek m, skřítek m, skřet (cs) m
• Danish: nisse c, trold c
• Dutch: aardmannetje (nl) n, kobold (nl) m
• Esperanto: koboldo
• Estonian: pahared
• Faroese: vættur f
• Finnish: haltija (fi), peikko (fi), hiisi (fi)
• French: gobelin (fr) m, lutin (fr) m, farfadet (fr) m
• Galician: trasno (gl) m, provizo m, xas m, abelurio (gl) m, abutardo m, papón (gl) m
• Georgian: გობლინი (goblini)
• German: Kobold (de) m
• Greek: καλικάντζαρος (el) m (kalikántzaros), ξωτικό (el) n (xotikó)
• Hawaiian: ʻeʻepa pauʻaka
• Hungarian: lidérc (hu), kobold (hu)
• Icelandic: svartálfur (is) m
• Indonesian: hantu (id)
• Irish: púca m
• Italian: folletto (it) m, goblin (it) m
• Japanese: ゴブリン (goburin)
• Korean: 도깨비 (ko) (dokkaebi), 고블린 (gobeullin)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: cinok m or f, şeytanok (ku) m or f

• Latin: gobelinus m, cobalus m
• Malay: afrit
• Maori: taipo, kākarepō
• Marathi: गॉबलिन m (gŏblin)
• Middle English: pouke
• Norwegian: nisse (no) m
• Ojibwe: wiindigoo
• Old English: pūca m
• Polish: goblin (pl)
• Portuguese: duende (pt) m, goblin (pt) m, gobrinho, gobelim
• Romanian: iazmă (ro) f
• Russian: го́блин (ru) m (góblin)
• Santali: ᱵᱷᱩᱛ (bhut)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гоблин m

  Roman: goblin m

• Slovene: škrat (sl) m
• Spanish: duende (es) m, trasgo (es) m
• Swahili: zimwi (sw)
• Swedish: vätte (sv)
• Tagalog: tianak, patianak
• Turkish: küçük şeytan
• Welsh: ellyll (cy) m, ŵyll m
• West Frisian: ierdmantsje n

Anagrams

• Boglin, Boling, globin, lobing

Polish

goblin

Etymology

Borrowed from English goblin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔ.blin/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔblin
• Syllabification: go‧blin

Noun

goblin m animal

1. (fantasy) goblin (hostile diminutive humanoid in fantasy literature)

Declension

Declension of goblin

	singular	plural
nominative	goblin	gobliny
genitive	goblina	goblinów
dative	goblinowi	goblinom
accusative	goblina	gobliny
instrumental	goblinem	goblinami
locative	goblinie	goblinach
vocative	goblinie	gobliny

Further reading

• goblin in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

goblin m (Cyrillic spelling гоблин)

1. goblin

Declension

Declension of goblin

	singular	plural
nominative	goblin	goblini
genitive	goblina	goblina
dative	goblinu	goblinima
accusative	goblina	gobline
vocative	gobline	goblini
locative	goblinu	goblinima
instrumental	goblinom	goblinima

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from English goblin.

Noun

goblin (definite accusative goblini, plural goblinler)

1. goblin

Declension

Declension of goblin

singular plural nominative goblin goblinler definite accusative goblini goblinleri dative gobline goblinlere locative goblinde goblinlerde ablative goblinden goblinlerden genitive goblinin goblinlerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular goblinim goblinlerim 2nd singular goblinin goblinlerin 3rd singular goblini goblinleri 1st plural goblinimiz goblinlerimiz 2nd plural goblininiz goblinleriniz 3rd plural goblinleri goblinleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular goblinimi goblinlerimi 2nd singular goblinini goblinlerini 3rd singular goblinini goblinlerini 1st plural goblinimizi goblinlerimizi 2nd plural goblininizi goblinlerinizi 3rd plural goblinlerini goblinlerini dative singular plural 1st singular goblinime goblinlerime 2nd singular goblinine goblinlerine 3rd singular goblinine goblinlerine 1st plural goblinimize goblinlerimize 2nd plural goblininize goblinlerinize 3rd plural goblinlerine goblinlerine locative singular plural 1st singular goblinimde goblinlerimde 2nd singular goblininde goblinlerinde 3rd singular goblininde goblinlerinde 1st plural goblinimizde goblinlerimizde 2nd plural goblininizde goblinlerinizde 3rd plural goblinlerinde goblinlerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular goblinimden goblinlerimden 2nd singular goblininden goblinlerinden 3rd singular goblininden goblinlerinden 1st plural goblinimizden goblinlerimizden 2nd plural goblininizden goblinlerinizden 3rd plural goblinlerinden goblinlerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular goblinimin goblinlerimin 2nd singular goblininin goblinlerinin 3rd singular goblininin goblinlerinin 1st plural goblinimizin goblinlerimizin 2nd plural goblininizin goblinlerinizin 3rd plural goblinlerinin goblinlerinin