Word.ws English Dictionary

guv

guv noun: a form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior.

Noun (1)

guv (plural guvs)

  1. (Ireland, London, UK, informal) A form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior.
    • Spare two quid, guv? I 'aven't eaten since yesterday.
    • Right away, guv... I mean, sarge.
    Synonyms:
    mate
  2. (UK, informal) A male prison officer.
    • We cover up the window so the guvs can't see us.

Noun (2) capitalized: GUV

GUV (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of germicidal ultraviolet.

Synonyms of guv

Forms of guv

pluralguvs
alternative formgov

Origin of guv

Alternative phonetic spelling of gov, short for governor.

Questions about guv

What does guv mean?
Guv means a form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior.
What part of speech is guv?
Guv is a noun.
What is the plural of guv?
The plural of guv is guvs.

Words near guv in the dictionary

  1. Gutzwiller
  2. Gutzwillers
  3. GUUAM
  4. Guugu Yimidhirr
  5. Guugu-Yimidhirr
  6. guv
  7. guv'ment
  8. guv'ments
  9. guv'mint
  10. guv'mints
  11. guv'nor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guv (page history and authors); GUV (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: “guv.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guv. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.