Word of the Day

: September 28, 2008

oaf

noun OHF

What It Means

1 : a stupid person : boob

2 : a big clumsy slow-witted person

oaf in Context

When the waiter dropped a full plate of pasta into her lap, my sister yelled, "You clumsy oaf!"

Did You Know?

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.