doofus
/ˈduːfəs/
"doofus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doofus” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,902 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #52,902
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person with poor judgment and taste; a foolish or silly person.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | doofus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈduːfəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #52,902 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doofus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for doofus is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈduːfəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #52,902 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A person with poor judgment and taste; a foolish or silly person.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for doofus, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps an alteration of earlier goofus (first attested in the 1920s), due to influence from Scots doof (“simpleton”). Scots doof is derived from Low German doof (“deaf", with a secondary sense of "idiotic, stupid”). The Low Saxon word is cognate with Engli… The correct English form is doofus, spelled D-O-O-F-U-S.
Definition
- 1A person with poor judgment and taste; a foolish or silly person.
Etymology
Perhaps an alteration of earlier goofus (first attested in the 1920s), due to influence from Scots doof (“simpleton”). Scots doof is derived from Low German doof (“deaf", with a secondary sense of "idiotic, stupid”). The Low Saxon word is cognate with English deaf. Some have proposed that perhaps dupe played some kind of role in the development of doofus as well.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “doofus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-O-F-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈduːfəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.