oaf
/oʊf/noun
oaf is spelled O-A-F: 3 letters. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a derogatory noun, oaf means “A person, especially a large male, who is clumsy or a simpleton” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of oaf is oafs or oaves.
How many letters and syllables are in oaf?
| Letters | 3: O-A-F |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 70,702nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 oaf?
Oaf appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd 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 oaf?
- UK /əʊf/
- US /oʊf/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-oaf.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with oaf?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as oaf from its last stressed vowel (/oʊf/):
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 oaf
- oafs plural
- oaves plural
- auf
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does oaf mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
derogatoryA person, especially a large male, who is clumsy or a simpleton.
Ouch! You dropped that box on my feet, you lumbering oaf!
- 2
datedderogatoryAn ill-mannered person; a boor.
- 3
obsoleteAn elf's child; a changeling left by fairies or goblins, hence, a deformed or foolish child.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Oaf in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense imbecile:
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 oaf come from?
Variant of awf, aufe, probably from Old Norse álfr (“elf”) (whence Norwegian Bokmål alv). Doublet of alf and elf.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).