# goon

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɡuːn/ · frequency rank #25,074

## Definitions
1. A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence.
2. A hired and paid person who is assigned to terrorize and kill opponents.
3. A fool; someone who is silly, stupid, awkward, or outlandish.
4. An enforcer or fighter.
5. A German guard in a prisoner-of-war camp.
6. One hired to legally kidnap a child and forcibly transport them to a boot camp, boarding school, wilderness therapy, or a similar rehabilitation facility.
7. Box wine.
8. A member of the comedy website Something Awful.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-ōm
Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm
Proto-Indo-European *-ō
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ
Proto-Germanic *gumô
Proto-West Germanic *gumō
Old English guma
Middle English gone?
English gooney
English goon
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). The term goon first carried the meaning "stupid person" (circa 1921). Compare Scots goni, guni (“a bogey, bugbear, hobgoblin”), dialectal Swedish gonnar (“elves, goblins”, plural).
* Etymology 1 sense 1 ("hired thug"; circa 1938) is largely influenced by the comic strip character Alice the Goon from the Popeye series.
* Etymology 1 sense 3 ("fool") was reinforced by the popular radio program, The Goon Show, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
* Etymology 1 sense 5 ("guard") was influenced by both etymology 1 sense 1 and etymology 1 sense 3, though not by The Goon Show reference, which arose about 10 years after WWII.

## Easily confused with
- **got** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-got)
- **gun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gun)
- **GOP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gop)
- **Guo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-guo)
- **gow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gow)
- **gro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gro)
- **gor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gor)
- **GYN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gyn)
- **GPO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gpo)
- **grow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-grow)
- **gosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gosh)
- **gore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gore)
- **gown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gown)
- **grin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-grin)
- **Gwen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gwen)
- **gran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gran)
- **Gunn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gunn)
- **goth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-goth)
- **GOTO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-goto)
- **gout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goon-vs-gout)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ggoon`, `gon`, `gono`, `goonn`, `ogon`

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