oaf

English

Alternative forms

• auf

Etymology

Variant of awf, aufe, probably from Old Norse álfr (“elf”) (whence Norwegian Bokmål alv). Doublet of alf and elf.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊf/
• Rhymes: -əʊf

Noun

oaf (plural oafs or oaves)

1. (derogatory) A person, especially a large male, who is clumsy or a simpleton.

   Ouch! You dropped that box on my feet, you lumbering oaf!

2. (dated, derogatory) An ill-mannered person; a boor.
   • 1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London:

     I hope you haven't been thinking me an awful oaf for not writing to thank you for so many jolly games after I left Tapsfield?

3. (obsolete) An elf's child; a changeling left by fairies or goblins, hence, a deformed or foolish child.

Synonyms

• (clumsy or idiotic person): dummy, galoot, imbecile, lout, moron, fool; see also Thesaurus:unskilled person
• (elf's child): auf, swapling

Derived terms

• oafdom
• oafish
• oaflike
• oaf-rocked

Translations

imbecile

• Czech: hňup (cs) m, blb (cs) m
• Danish: stud c
• Dutch: pummel (nl)
• Esperanto: idiotulo
• French: dadais (fr) m
• German: Tölpel (de) m
• Hungarian: mamlasz (hu), fajankó (hu), ökör (hu), balfék (hu), barom (hu), tökfej (hu)
• Irish: dúramán m, gamal m
• Italian: imbecille (it) m or f
• Latin: gurdus m
• Māori: rorewaru
• Polish: prostak (pl) m, imbecyl (pl) m, niezdara (pl) m, bęcwał (pl) m, daun (pl) m (offensive), klaun (pl) m
• Portuguese: imbecil (pt), idiota (pt)
• Russian: болва́н (ru) m (bolván)
• Spanish: imbécil (es)
• Swedish: dummerjöns (sv)
• Welsh: drelyn m, lleban m

References

• “oaf”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “oaf”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “oaf”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• “oaf”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• FAO, Foa, OFA, fao, of a