Word.ws English Dictionary

gewgaw

UK/ˈɡjuːɡɔː//ˈɡ(j)uɡɔ/

gewgaw noun: a showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration.

Noun

gewgaw (plural gewgaws)

  1. A showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration.
    • A heavy gewgaw called a crown.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […]...
    • It was a Saxon ornament. […] Some Puritan, before his departure, may have thought himself doing God service by filching the old golden gewgaw.1883, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 15, in Doctor Grimshawe's Secret

Adjective

gewgaw (not comparable)

  1. Showy; unreal; pretentious.
    • The rattle of a globe to play withal,
      This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off;1678, Dryden, John, All for Love, Scene II
    • Seeing his gewgaw castle shine,
      New as his title, built last year.1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud; A Monodrama, X, stanza 1
    Synonyms:
    gewgawish

gewgaw meaning in Tamil

gewgaw in Tamil

பகட்டுடையதும் பயனற்றதுமான ஒன்று, சிங்கார அணிமணி, பகட்டு விளையாட்டுப் பொருள்

Synonyms of gewgaw

Forms of gewgaw

pluralgewgaws
alternative formgeegaw
alternative formgew-gaw
alternative formgee-gaw

Origin of gewgaw

From earlier gugaw, gygaw, from Middle English givegove (“gewgaw, trifle”), a reduplication of Middle English give, geove (“gift”), from Old English giefu, geofu, geafu (“gift”), from Proto-Germanic *gebō (“gift”). Compare Icelandic gyligjöf (“showy gifts, gewgaw”). More at give.

Words formed from gewgaw

Questions about gewgaw

What does gewgaw mean?
Gewgaw means a showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration.
What is gewgaw in Tamil?
Gewgaw in Tamil is பகட்டுடையதும் பயனற்றதுமான ஒன்று, சிங்கார அணிமணி, பகட்டு விளையாட்டுப் பொருள். See Gewgaw meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is gewgaw?
Gewgaw can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce gewgaw?
Gewgaw is pronounced /ˈɡjuːɡɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of gewgaw?
The plural of gewgaw is gewgaws.

Words near gewgaw in the dictionary

  1. GEVs
  2. gew-gaw
  3. gew-gaws
  4. gewd
  5. GEWEX
  6. gewgaw
  7. gewgawed
  8. gewgawish
  9. gewgawry
  10. gewgaws
  11. gewgawy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gewgaw (page history and authors); gewgaw (Tamil 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: en-us-gewgaw.ogg.

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