gaffe
French, noun
gaffe is spelled G-A-F-F-E (5 letters) and appears 12 times per million words in written French, the 5,743rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gaffe is a French feminine noun meaning “gaffe, blunder, goof-up (North American), cock-up (British)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, gaffé is a different word: “past participle of gaffer”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Perche munie d’un crochet à une extrémité pour attirer à soi quelque chose”.
What does gaffe mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininegaffe, blunder, goof-up (North American), cock-up (British)
noun
- 1
feminineboathook
verb
- 1
past participle of gaffer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Perche munie d’un crochet à une extrémité pour attirer à soi quelque chose. 2. Bêtise.
noun: 1. Gardien de prison.
noun: 1. Culotte spécialement conçue pratiquer le tucking, c’est-à-dire pour dissimuler son pénis et ses testicules.
interjection: 1. Attention !
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of gaffe
- gaffes plural
- gaffée feminine
- gaffés masculine plural
- gaffées feminine plural
- gaff
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to gaffe
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is gaffe in French?
gaffe appears 12 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).