An oaf is a clumsy stupid man. Big, awkward, and always knocking something over.
The word combines clumsiness with dullness, which is what separates it from a plain insult about intelligence. It is nearly always applied to men, and usually large ones. The adjective oafish describes the behaviour. It is an old word and comes from a Norse term for an elf's changeling child, which was the traditional explanation for a child who seemed different. It now sounds slightly literary, and lout is the everyday equivalent.
1nounoafA clumsy and stupid man.
“Some oaf had put his foot through the canvas.”
Old Norse
álfr — elf
English, today
oaf
Variant of awf, aufe, probably from Old Norse álfr (“elf”) (whence Norwegian Bokmål alv). a doublet of alf and elf.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word