Oaf Has a Fanciful History

A long time ago in England, it was believed that goblins sometimes secretly exchanged their babies for human babies. This was used as an explanation when parents found themselves with a particularly ugly or deformed child: these parents wanted to believe that their real baby had been stolen by goblins, and the other left in its place. The label for such a child was auf, or alfe (meaning "goblin's child"), terms that were later altered to form our present-day oaf. Although the linguistic history is not entirely clear, auf and alfe are likely from the Middle English alven and elven, meaning "elf" or "fairy." Today the word oaf is no longer associated with unattractive babies and is instead applied to anyone who appears especially unintelligent or graceless.

Examples of oaf in a Sentence

it's not polite to call your brother a stupid oaf anyone who took him for an oaf and tried to cheat him would be in for a nasty surprise

Recent Examples on the Web Nowhere in Hansen’s pages is the impulsive, autocratic oaf seen by many of Castro’s critics. — Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, "‘Young Castro’ captures a revolutionary’s shining dreams," 12 Aug. 2019 Love truly is an open door with this inflatable oaf. — Isabel Garcia, House Beautiful, "Target Is Selling an Inflatable Olaf for Your Lawn," 4 Dec. 2019 No one who touched the ball in the opposing penalty area as often as Kane was as good at not losing possession, showing that a target man doesn’t have to be a lumbering oaf whose primary skill is measuring in at over 6-foot-3. — Jonathan Clegg, WSJ, "Harry Kane: English Soccer’s Clark Kent," 18 June 2018 For us straight dudes, however, being big and hairy means getting thought of as an ape—a big, dumb, smelly oaf. — Dan Savage, Chicago Reader, "‘How does one get into the gay BDSM bottoming scene?’," 7 Feb. 2018 In Fitzpatrick, Doyle has created an extraordinarily creepy antagonist: a bully who plays dumb but always gets under the hero’s skin, a clumsy oaf who nevertheless can disappear like a cat into the darkness. — J. Robert Lennon, New York Times, "A Stranger From the Past Confronts Roddy Doyle’s Latest Hero," 31 Oct. 2017 Though comic buffoons and yokels are scattered through a number of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Lear’s universe is relentlessly bleak, and the Fool, despite his jingling, is neither oaf nor jester. — Cynthia Ozick, New York Times, "King Lear Is Reborn as a 21st-Century Media Mogul," 25 Oct. 2017 Rob Gronkowski only played eight games, but Kelce—who played all sixteen—averaged more yards per game than New England’s lovable oaf. — Clay Skipper, GQ, "How the NFL's Travis Kelce Became the Most Fun Guy in the No Fun League," 7 Sep. 2017 The other is Trump himself, an uninformed and undisciplined oaf who likes to shoot from the hip. — Jeet Heer, New Republic, "This Is Not a North Korean Crisis. It’s a Trump Crisis.," 10 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oaf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.