tomfoolery

English

Etymology

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:

     "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.

Translations

foolish behaviour

Bulgarian: палячовщина f (paljačovština) Chinese: Mandarin: 蠢事 (zh) (chǔnshì), 愚蠢舉動 / 愚蠢举动 (yúchǔn jǔdòng) 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) 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