gaffe

See also: gaffé and gáffe

English

Alternative forms

• gaff

Etymology

From French gaffe (“blunder”), in turn from Old Occitan gaf (“clasp”). Ultimately derived from Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷 (gafah, “clasp”, noun) (𐌲𐌰- (ga-, intensifier) + 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (fahan, “to catch”)). Doublet of gaff.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɡæf/
• Rhymes: -æf
• Homophone: gaff

Noun

gaffe (plural gaffes)

1. A foolish and embarrassing error, especially one made in public; a social blunder; a breach of etiquette.

   Synonyms: blooper, blunder, mistake, error, slip, slip-up; see also Thesaurus:error

   make a gaffe

Derived terms

• Kinsley gaffe

Translations

a foolish error, especially one made in public

• Breton: fazienn f, fallvarch m
• Bulgarian: гаф (bg) m (gaf), грешка (bg) f (greška)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 失態 / 失态 (zh) (shītài), 出醜 / 出丑 (zh) (chūchǒu)

• Czech: blbost (cs) f, kravina (cs) f, bota (cs) f, faux pas (cs), trapas (cs) m
• Danish: fejltagelse (da)
• Dutch: blunder (nl) m, uitschuiver (nl) m, flater (nl) m, gaffe (nl) f, misstap (nl) m
• Finnish: möhläys (fi), munaus (fi), moka (fi)
• French: gaffe (fr) f, faux pas (fr) m, bévue (fr)
• Galician: esquenza f, disquenza f, cabuco m, pifia f, falenza f
• German: Fauxpas (de) m, Ausrutscher (de) m, Patzer (de) m
• Greek: γκάφα (el) f (gkáfa)
• Hebrew: פַשְלָה (he) f (fáshla)
• Hungarian: ügyetlenség (hu), ballépés (hu)
• Italian: sproposito (it) m, figuraccia (it) f, errore (it) m, topica (it) f, gaffe (it) f
• Japanese: 失態 (ja) (しったい, shittai)
• Macedonian: гаф m (gaf), гре́шка f (gréška)
• Norwegian: brøler m
• Polish: gafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: gafe (pt)
• Romanian: gafă (ro) f
• Russian: опло́шность (ru) f (oplóšnostʹ), про́мах (ru) m (prómax), оши́бка (ru) f (ošíbka), конфуз (ru) m (konfuz) (dated)
• Spanish: metida de pata (es) f (Latin America), metedura de pata (es) f (Spain), desliz (es) m, pifia (es) f, cagada (es) f (vulgar), gazapo (es) m
• Swedish: tabbe (sv) c, blunder (sv) c, fadäs (sv) c
• Turkish: gaf (tr)

See also

• Bushism
• faux pas
• Freudian slip
• malapropism

French

Etymology

From Old Occitan gaf (“clasp”), from Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷 (gafah, “clasp”, noun), from 𐌲𐌰- (ga-, intensifier) + 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (fahan, “to catch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Hérault)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -af

Noun

gaffe f (plural gaffes)

1. gaffe, blunder, goof-up (North American), cock-up (British)

   Synonyms: faux pas, (colloquial) couac

Derived terms

• faire gaffe

Descendants

• → English: gaffe
• → Italian: gaffe
• → Portuguese: gafe
• → Romanian: gafă
• → Turkish: gaf

Noun

gaffe f (plural gaffes)

1. (nautical) boathook

Further reading

• “gaffe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Verb

gaffe

1. inflection of gaffen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative
   3. first/third-person singular subjunctive I

Italian

Pronunciation 1

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaf.fe/
• Rhymes: -affe
• Hyphenation: gàf‧fe

Noun

gaffe f

1. plural of gaffa

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaf/
• Rhymes: -af

Noun

gaffe f (invariable)

1. gaffe, blunder, boob