tomfoolery

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Aramaic תאמא

Aramaic תאומא (təʾōmā)bor.

Ancient Greek Θωμᾶς (Thōmâs)bor.

Latin Thōmāsbor.

Middle English Thomas

Middle English Thomme

English Tom

English foolery

English tomfoolery

From Tom (“a common man”) + foolery.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌtɒmˈfuːlə.ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑmˌful.ɚ.i/, [ˈtʰɑmˌɸuɫ.ɚ.i], [ˈtʰɑɱˌfuɫ.ɚ.i]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

tomfoolery (countable and uncountable, plural tomfooleries)

1. Foolish behaviour or speech.

   Synonym: buffoonery

   • 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter VI, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth‎^[1]:

     "Do not think THAT," I put in. "It was not so at all. I grant you that my behaviour was bad—I fully confess that it was so, and make no secret of the fact. I would even go so far as to grant you that my behaviour might well be called stupid and indecent tomfoolery; but, MORE than that it was not.

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) Jewellery.

Derived terms

• bumfoolery
• tomfoolerous

Translations

foolish behaviour

• Bulgarian: палячовщина f (paljačovština)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蠢事 (zh) (chǔnshì), 愚蠢舉動 / 愚蠢举动 (yúchǔn jǔdòng)

• Czech: šaškárna (cs) f, klauniáda (cs) f
• Dutch: gekkigheid (nl) f
• Finnish: hölmöily (fi)
• French: pitrerie (fr) f, bouffonnerie (fr) f, niaiserie (fr) f
• German: Unsinn (de) m, Blödsinn (de) m, Clownerie (de) f
• Hungarian: ostobaság (hu), bárgyúság (hu), sületlenség (hu)
• Japanese: ばかなまね (bakana mane)
• Lithuanian: cirkas m
• Macedonian: будала́штина f (budaláština), лудо́рија f (ludórija), глу́пости f pl (glúposti)
• Polish: wygłup (pl), figiel (pl) m, psikus (pl) m, bufonada (pl) m
• Romanian: bufonerie (ro), caraghioslâc (ro) n
• Russian: дура́чество (ru) n (duráčestvo), шутовство́ (ru) n (šutovstvó), фигля́рство (ru) n (figljárstvo), клоуна́да (ru) f (klounáda)
• Spanish: payasada (es) f
• Turkish: soytarılık (tr)

(slang) jewellery

• Finnish: helyt pl