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PlainSpell

goon

go·on/ˈɡuːn/noun, verb

goon is spelled G-O-O-N: 4 letters and 2 syllables (go·on). It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, goon means “A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of goon is goons.

How many letters and syllables are in goon?

Letters4: G-O-O-N
Syllables2: go·on
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 25,070th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is goon?

Goon appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce goon?

  • /ˈɡuːn/

As a noun (“A Sino-Japanese kanji pronunciation layer, considered the…”): /ˈɡəʊˌɒn/, /ˈɡoʊˌɑn/.

Goon has 2 syllables, split go·on in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-goon.wav, En-us-goon.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_goon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with goon

Also written: go-on (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with goon?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as goon from its last stressed vowel (/oʊɑn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ongo.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of goon

  • goons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gooning participle, present
  • gooned participle, past
  • go'on
  • go-on

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does goon mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence.

  2. 2

    USinformalA hired and paid person who is assigned to terrorize and kill opponents.

  3. 3

    A fool; someone who is silly, stupid, awkward, or outlandish.

  4. 4

    derogatoryAn enforcer or fighter.

  5. 5

    UKA German guard in a prisoner-of-war camp.

  6. 6

    slangOne hired to legally kidnap a child and forcibly transport them to a boot camp, boarding school, wilderness therapy, or a similar rehabilitation facility.

  7. 7

    AustraliacolloquialBox wine.

  8. 8

    A member of the comedy website Something Awful.

  9. 9

    AustraliainformalA wine flagon or cask.

  10. 10

    AustraliainformalCheap or inferior cask wine.

  11. 11

    A Sino-Japanese kanji pronunciation layer, considered the first Sino-Japanese kanji reading type used in Japan.

    The Buddhist term 権化 is read as gonge, using the kanji's goon readings.

verb

  1. 1

    slangTo act like a goon; to act in an intimidating or aggressive way towards opponents.

  2. 2

    To legally kidnap a child and forcibly transport them to a boot camp, boarding school, wilderness therapy, or a similar rehabilitation facility.

  3. 3

    slangTo masturbate for long periods of time without reaching a climax.

  4. 4

    To masturbate (in general).

noun

as Goon
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of goon (“a member of the comedy web site Something Awful”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Goon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense to masturbate for long periods of time without reaching a climax:

LanguageWords
Germangoonen

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does goon come from?

Shortened from gooney, from obsolete gony (“simpleton”), used circa 1580, of unknown origin. Perhaps a familiar term derived from Middle English gone, a variant of gome (“man, person”). Gony was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (circa 1839).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after goon