# bogey

> English word · Noun · IPA /bəʊɡi/ · frequency rank #31,877

## Definitions
1. A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.
2. The Devil.
3. A bugbear: any terrifying thing.
4. A police officer.
5. A standard of performance set up as a mark to be aimed at in competition.
6. An unidentified aircraft, especially as observed as a spot on a radar screen and suspected to be hostile.
7. Synonym of bandit: an enemy aircraft.
8. The notional opponent of a golfer playing alone.
9. A score of one over par on a hole.
10. A piece of mucus in or removed from the nostril; a booger.

## Etymology
Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”) (whence bug), itself of uncertain origin: perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat”, older “fear”), Irish bagairt (“threat”), but perhaps the root was borrowed from Germanic. Otherwise from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge and Alemannic German Böögg (“goblin”, “snot”).
See also Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), Old English pūca (“goblin, mischievous spirit”), Icelandic púki Swedish puke (“small devil, spook”), whence obsolete English puck. Perhaps the Middle English and Welsh words come from a word related to buck and originally referred to a goat-shaped specter. Compare also booger.
The golf sense is from the devil as an imaginary player. The sometimes proscribed conflation with bandit was popularized by the 1986 film Top Gun.

## Easily confused with
- **boy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boy)
- **bone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bone)
- **bore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bore)
- **bony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bony)
- **Bose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bose)
- **bowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bowe)
- **boxy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boxy)
- **boxes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boxes)
- **bones** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bones)
- **bored** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bored)
- **boxer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boxer)
- **booty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-booty)
- **bowel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bowel)
- **Bowen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bowen)
- **bogus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bogus)
- **boxed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boxed)
- **bowed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-bowed)
- **buggy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-buggy)
- **boner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-boner)
- **booed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bogey-vs-booed)

## Common misspellings (7)
`bbogey`, `bgoey`, `boegy`, `bogeyy`, `boggey`, `bogye`, `obgey`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bogey