Word.ws English Dictionary

goombah

Syllables: goom·bahUK/ɡuːmˈbɑː/US/ˈɡumbɑ/

goombah noun: a person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime). Also the alternative form of gumbe.

Noun

goombah (plural goombahs)

  1. (US, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur) A person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime)
  2. (US, slang) A companion, pal, close friend, or associate, especially among Italian-American men. It sometimes has the connotation of an older friend who acts as a patron, protector or adviser.

Also used as

goombah is also the alternative form of gumbe.

Synonyms of goombah

All synonyms of goombah

Forms of goombah

pluralgoombahs
alternative formgoomba
alternative formgumba
alternative formgumbah

Origin of goombah

From Neapolitan cumpà and Sicilian cumpari (“buddy, pal”, akin to Italian compare, Spanish compadre, literally “godfather”), from Latin compater, a word often used to refer to “family friends” or friends close enough to be considered an “aunt” or “uncle”, though not related by blood. To an English-speaking ear, the unaspirated stops of Southern Italian dialects (especially Neapolitan) are interpreted as voiced stops, yielding goombah. Compare South American Spanish cumpa. Doublet of compadre, compeer, and compere.

Words that rhyme with goombah

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about goombah

What does goombah mean?
Goombah means a person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime).
What part of speech is goombah?
Goombah is a noun.
How do you pronounce goombah?
Goombah is pronounced /ˈɡumbɑ/ (US).
What is the plural of goombah?
The plural of goombah is goombahs.

Words near goombah in the dictionary

  1. goomar
  2. goomars
  3. goomba
  4. goomba fallacies
  5. goomba fallacy
  6. goombah
  7. goombahs
  8. Goombargana
  9. goombas
  10. goombay
  11. goombays

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goombah (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.

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