# gopher

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɡəʊfə/ · frequency rank #34,083

## Definitions
1. A small burrowing rodent native to North and Central America, especially in the family Geomyidae (pocket gophers).
2. A ground squirrel (Marmotinae spp.).
3. A gopher tortoise (Gopherus spp.).
4. A gopher rockfish (Sebastes carnatus).
5. A Golang programmer.

## Etymology
Perhaps an adaptation of Cajun French gaufre (literally “honeycomb, waffle”), based on the analogy of holes in the ground to the indentations in a honeycomb or a waffle (doublet of waffle). Alternatively, from Muskogean.

## Easily confused with
- **Gower** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gopher-vs-gower)
- **Goshen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gopher-vs-goshen)
- **goer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goer-vs-gopher)
- **gather** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gather-vs-gopher)
- **golfer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/golfer-vs-gopher)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ggopher`, `gohper`, `gopehr`, `gopherr`, `gophher`, `gophre`, `goppher`, `gpoher`, `ogpher`

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