goo

See also: Goo, góo, go'o, goo', and -góó

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Etymology 1

American English, known since 1903, probably from burgoo (“thick porridge”) (1787), possibly an alteration of glue.

Noun

goo (uncountable)

1. (uncountable, informal) Any semi-solid or liquid substance; especially one that is sticky, gummy or slippery; frequently of vague or unknown composition, slime or a bodily fluid.

   I stepped in some goo and had a terrible time getting the sticky stuff off my shoes.

2. Excessive, showy sentimentality.

Synonyms

• (semi-solid or liquid substance): gloop, goop, gunk, ooze; see also Thesaurus:goo

Derived terms

• from goo to you by way of the zoo
• gooey
• gooeyness

Translations

sticky or gummy semi-solid or liquid substance

• Dutch: brij (nl) m
• Estonian: löga
• Finnish: tahma, tökötti (fi), mönjä (fi)
• French: matière poisseuse f
• German: Schmiere (de) f, Klebstoff (de) m, (North German, colloquial) Glibber m, (colloquial) Soße (de) f, klebriges Zeug n, Papp m
• Italian: melma (it) f
• Japanese: ネバネバしたもの (nebaneba shita mono)

• Polish: glut (pl) m
• Portuguese: gosma (pt)
• Russian: слизь (ru) f (slizʹ), (что-либо) вя́зкое (ru) n (vjázkoje), (что-либо) ли́пкое (ru) (lípkoje)
• Serbo-Croatian: ljiga (sh) f
• Spanish: pringue (es) m, f
• Swedish: klet (sv) n, kladd (sv) n, smet (sv) n

sentimentality

• Dutch: stroperigheid
• French: sentimentalité à l'eau de rose f
• German: (colloquial) Schmalz (de) m, übertriebene Sentimentalität f

• Portuguese: meloso m
• Russian: сентимента́льщина (ru) f (sentimentálʹščina)

Verb

goo (third-person singular simple present goos, present participle gooing, simple past and past participle gooed)

1. (transitive) To apply goo to something.

   They gooed their hair with some fragrant styling product.

Etymology 2

(onomatopoeia)

Noun

goo (plural goos)

1. An example of baby talk.

   The infant's goos and gahs were endearing.

Verb

goo (third-person singular simple present goos, present participle gooing, simple past and past participle gooed)

1. (intransitive) To produce baby talk.

   The baby gooed while daddy made sappy faces at it.

See also

• gaga, ga-ga
• goo-goo

References

• “goo” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• ogo

---

Dutch

Etymology

Germanic, of uncertain origin

Noun

goo f (plural [please provide], diminutive [please provide])

1. Alternative form of gouw

Anagrams

• oog

---

Esperanto

Noun

goo (accusative singular goon, plural gooj, accusative plural goojn)

1. The board game go

---

Manx

Etymology 1

From Old Irish guth, from Proto-Celtic *gutus, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰuHtus, from *ǵʰewH- (“to call on, invoke”).

Noun

goo m (genitive singular goo, plural googhyn)

1. voice
2. word, reputation

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
goo	ghoo	ngoo
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Etymology 2

Noun

goo

1. Eclipsed form of coo.

---

Middle English

Verb

goo

1. Alternative form of gon (“to go”)

References

p. 1, Arthur; A Short Sketch of his Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, Frederick Furnivall ed. EETS. Trübner & Co.: London. 1864.