# goose

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɡuːs/ · frequency rank #9,048

## Definitions
1. Any of various grazing waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which have feathers and webbed feet and are capable of flying, swimming, and walking on land, and which are generally bigger than ducks.
2. A female goose.
3. The flesh of the goose used as food.
4. A silly person.
5. A tailor's iron, heated in live coals or embers, used to press fabrics.
6. A young woman or girlfriend.
7. An old English board game in which players moved counters along a board, earning a double move when they reached the picture of a goose.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *ǵʰh₂éns
From Middle English goos, gos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-West Germanic *gans, from Proto-Germanic *gans, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns.
Cognates
Compare West Frisian goes, North Frisian göis (also Fering-Öömrang dialect North Frisian gus; Sölring dialect North Frisian Guus; Heligoland dialect North Frisian gus), Low German Goos, Gans, Dutch gans, German Gans, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian gås, Icelandic gæs, Irish gé, Latin ānser, Latvian zùoss, Russian гусь (gusʹ), Albanian gatë, Ancient Greek χήν (khḗn), Avestan 𐬰𐬁 (zā), Sanskrit हंस (haṃsá).
* The tailor's iron is so called from the likeness of the handle to the neck of a goose.

## Easily confused with
- **gosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gosh)
- **gore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gore)
- **goss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-goss)
- **gove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gove)
- **gots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gots)
- **gross** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gross)
- **grove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-grove)
- **guise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-guise)
- **gorge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gorge)
- **gouge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-gouge)
- **grope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-grope)
- **groove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-groove)
- **grouse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-grouse)
- **grosse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goose-vs-grosse)
- **goo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goo-vs-goose)
- **good** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/good-vs-goose)
- **goes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goes-vs-goose)
- **gone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gone-vs-goose)
- **gods** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gods-vs-goose)
- **GCSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gcse-vs-goose)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ggoose`, `gooes`, `goosse`, `gosoe`, `ogose`

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