Other forms: buffoons
A buffoon is somebody who behaves ridiculously. An absolute buffoon.
It is an insult, though playing the buffoon deliberately has always been a way of getting away with things. Nobody is called a buffoon for one mistake, since the word describes a manner.
1nounbuffoonSomebody who behaves ridiculously.
“He played the buffoon in public and kept the accounts himself.”
buffoon is a person.
Italian buffone means a jester, from buffare, to puff out the cheeks, which is an imitative word.
Italian
buffone — jester
Middle French
bouffon
English, today
buffoon
Built from
From Middle French bouffon, from Italian buffone (“jester”), from buffare (“to puff out the cheeks”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Middle High German buffen "to puff"; > German büffen, Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). More at English puff.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA