Word.ws English Dictionary

bozo

/ˈboʊ.zoʊ/

bozo noun: a stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.

Noun (1)

bozo (plural bozos)

  1. (slang) A stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.
    • ‘What’s the big bozo up to?’1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 51

Noun (2) capitalized: Bozo

Bozo (plural Bozos or Bozo)

  1. A member of a West African ethnic group located predominantly along the Niger River in Mali, famous for their fishing

Proper noun capitalized: Bozo

Bozo

  1. The Mande language of these people.

bozo meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Indonesian

bozo in Hindi

(slang) a stupid or foolish person
चपड़गंजू capaṛgañjū

bozo in Tamil

உருவத்தில் பெரிய, வலுவான ஆனால் முட்டாள்தனமான ஒருவன், முட்டாள், எரிச்சலூட்டுபவன், எரிச்சலூட்டும்

bozo in Urdu

پگلوٹ

bozo in Indonesian

(slang) a stupid or foolish person
orang bodoh

Forms of bozo

pluralbozos
pluralBozos
pluralBozo

Origin of bozo

Attested since the 1910s in American English, of uncertain origin. The term may derive from Spanish bozal, a term originally for a recently-imported slave and then "someone who speaks (Spanish) poorly". The term is older than Bozo the Clown, introduced in 1946. It is used as an insult in the 1931 Marx Brothers movie Monkey Business (1931 film). Derivation of the term from French bouseux /bu.zø/, a derogative term for a farmer equivalent to "bumpkin", is phonologically unlikely. Another possibility is Japanese 坊主 (bōzu) in its meaning of "young man", which can be derogatory, depending on the context.

Thought to derive from the Bambara language, meaning "bamboo house".

Words formed from bozo

Phrases with bozo

Questions about bozo

What does bozo mean?
Bozo means a stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.
What is bozo in Hindi?
Bozo in Hindi is चपड़गंजू (capaṛgañjū). See Bozo meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is bozo?
Bozo can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bozo?
Bozo is pronounced /ˈboʊ.zoʊ/.
What is the plural of bozo?
The plural of bozo is bozos.

Words near bozo in the dictionary

  1. Bozics
  2. Bozieni
  3. Bozioru
  4. Bozman
  5. Bozmans
  6. bozo
  7. bozo bin
  8. bozo bins
  9. bozo eruption
  10. bozo eruptions
  11. bozo filter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bozo (page history and authors); Bozo (page history and authors); bozo (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bozo (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Simplificationalizer-bozo.wav, En-au-bozo.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bozo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bozo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.