Dictionary

foo en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• fo͞o
• /fuː/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Mandarin 府 (fǔ).

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative, historical, obsolete) Alternative form of fu: an administrative subdivision of imperial China; the capital of such divisions.
   alt of fu

Forms

foo en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• fo͞o
• /fuː/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Chinese 福 (fú, “fortunate; prosperity, good luck”), via its use as 福星 (Fúxīng, “Jupiter”) in Chinese statues of the Three Lucky Stars, picked up from c. 1935 as a nonsense word in Bill Holman's Smokey Stover comic strip, whence it was picked up by Pogo, Looney Tunes, and others. Used by Jack Speer as the name of a mock god of mimeography in the 1930s. Popularized in computing contexts by the Tech Model Railroad Club's 1959 Dictionary of the TMRC Language, which incorporated it into a parody of the Buddhist chant om mani padme hum, possibly under the influence of WWII military slang FUBAR, which had been repopularized by Joseph Heller's Catch-22.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A metasyntactic variable used to represent an unspecified entity. If part of a series of such entities, it is often the first in the series, and followed immediately by bar.
   • Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.
2. (alt-of, slang, uncountable) Alternative letter-case form of Foo (“placeholder god”).
   alt of Foo

Deriveds

foobar

Relateds

FUBAR

wikipedia: Tech Model Railroad Club · wikipedia: Sanxing (deities) · wikipedia: Joseph Heller · wikipedia: Smokey Stover · wikipedia: The Daffy Doc · wikipedia: Jack Speer · wikipedia: Catch-22 · wikipedia: fu character · wikipedia: Bill Holman (cartoonist) · wikipedia: Pogo (comic strip)

foo en · INTJ · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• fo͞o
• /fuː/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

A minced form of fuck.

Meanings

1. Expression of disappointment or disgust.
   • Oh foo – the cake burnt!

Synonyms

drat (expression of disgust) · darn (expression of disgust)

foo en · NOUN · etymology 4

Pronunciation

• fo͞o
• /fuː/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (alt-of, pronunciation-spelling, slang) Pronunciation spelling of fool.
   alt of fool
   • [page 10:] "I knew you'd be scared," Reggie laughed. "What are you doin', foo? You must be crazy. You don't scare me." "Then why did you almost fall out of that chair? I scare everyone." [page 38:] "This is coo," said Fred. "It's almost like being there." "We are there, foo!" said Reggie as the boys slapped palms. 2020, J. Lewis Johnson, A Dark Night in the Fieldhouse:

Forms

Relateds

foo lion (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo fighter (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo dog (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo-foo band (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo-foo (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo-foo juice (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo yung (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies)) · foo young (Multiword terms containing "foo" (probably unrelated to the above etymologies))