goo

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] It may be a clipping from English burgoo (“thick porridge; stew”),^{[5][2][4][6][7][8][9]} first a sailors' word for porridge, which is based on a Persian word for bruised grain.^[6][7] Barnhart and Etymonline think it more likely a back-formation from gooey;^[10][11] Barnhart dates burgoo "thick porridge" to 1787 and "stew" to 1853.^[10] Merriam-Webster suggests an alteration of glue,^[12] and the OED allows that it may simply be expressive.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any soft, sticky substance: 1900, in a Chicago newspaper, the Sunday Inter Ocean.^[2][12] The same year E. H. Babbitt's list of college words defined goo as any liquid, anything sticky, or dirty moisture.^[8] Etymonline dates the word to 1897, as American college slang that first seems to be a euphemism for a swear word,^[11] while Barnhart's first record is from 1911.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word began as American slang, and in slang it could mean blood, semen or glue.^[8][11] The adjective gooey is recorded from 1901, first in New York for "nasty", then from 1903 for "soft and sticky".^[2] From 1917 goo was also used figuratively for mawkish sentimentality or sentimental drivel,^[2] and gooey followed in 1918.^[2] A verb goo, to make sticky, appears in George Ade in 1914, and Australian slang used it for spitting out phlegm.^[8]

Timeline

• 1897 – college slang, a euphemism for a swear word.^[11]
• 1900 – any soft and sticky substance.^[2][12][8]
• 1903 – gooey, soft and sticky.^[2]
• 1914 – verb, to make sticky.^[8]
• 1917 – mawkish sentimentality.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (informal) A soft, sticky or viscous substance, often a dirty or unpleasant one: Green goo dripped from the blocked drain.^[3][12][2]
2. (informal) Cloying sentimentality; sentimental talk or writing.^[3][12][2]

Word family

• gooey
• gooeyness

Related words

• burgoo

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled goo.^[2][12] The OED records an imitative goo for a baby's babbling, as a verb from 1808, a noun from before 1816 and an interjection from 1842, often doubled as goo-goo.^[2][4] In Scots goo meant taste, relish or liking,^[13][12] which Merriam-Webster derives from French goût.^[12] Merriam-Webster also lists goo for the freshwater drum, shortened from gaspergou,^[12] and in Irish slang a goo is a look or glimpse.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)