goon

Meaning

Noun

1. A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence.
2. (US, informal) A hired and paid person who is assigned to terrorize and kill opponents.
3. A fool; someone who is silly, stupid, awkward, or outlandish.
4. (derogatory) An enforcer or fighter.
5. (UK) A German guard in a prisoner-of-war camp.
6. (slang) One hired to legally kidnap a child and forcibly transport them to a boot camp, boarding school, wilderness therapy, or a similar rehabilitation facility.
7. (Internet) A member of the comedy website Something Awful.

Verb

1. (slang, transitive) To act like a goon; to act in an intimidating or aggressive way towards opponents.
2. (neologism) To legally kidnap a child and forcibly transport them to a boot camp, boarding school, wilderness therapy, or a similar rehabilitation facility.

Verb

1. (Internet) To masturbate for long periods of time without reaching a climax.
2. (Internet, broadly) To masturbate for long periods of time without reaching a climax.

Synonyms

lummox

thug

oaf

simpleton

dolt

stupid

booby

slob

lout

lump

chump

gudgeon

dimwit

zany

gawk

nincompoop

hood

hoodlum

dim-wit

strong-armer

goof

punk

imbecile

jerk

clod

simp

fool

stumblebum

sucker

lubber

tomfool

tough

toughie

mutt

nitwitted

noodle

nudnik

patsy

poky

ruffian

sap

sheepish

silly

sottish

square

thick

turkey

twerp

twirp

twit

Translations

voyou

βλάκας

sicario

kundakçı

ηλίθιος

bobo

patapouf

gorilla

🦍

βλαξ

capuchon

Schläger

goon

malotru

butor

boule

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡuːn/

Etymology

Cognate with Scots: goni

Cognate with Swedish: gonnar

In summary

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-ōm
Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm
Proto-Indo-European *-ō
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ
Proto-Germanic *gumô
Proto-West Germanic *gumō
Old English guma
Middle English gone?
English gooney
English goon
Shortened from gooney, from obsolete gony (“simpleton”), used circa 1580, of unknown origin. Perhaps a familiar term derived from Middle English gone, a variant of gome (“man, person”). Gony was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (circa 1839). The term goon first carried the meaning "stupid person" (circa 1921). Compare Scots goni, guni (“a bogey, bugbear, hobgoblin”), dialectal Swedish gonnar (“elves, goblins”, plural).
* Sense 1 ("hired thug"; circa 1938) is largely influenced by the comic strip character Alice the Goon from the Popeye series.
* Sense 3 ("fool") was reinforced by the popular radio program, The Goon Show, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
* Sense 5 ("guard") was influenced by both sense 1 and sense 3, though not by The Goon Show reference, which arose about 10 years after WWII.