noun
- a clumsy, stupid person; lout.
- a simpleton; dunce; blockhead.
- Archaic.
- a deformed or mentally deficient child.
- a changeling.
noun
- a stupid or loutish person
adj.1610s, from oaf + -ish. Related: Oafishly; oafishness. n.1620s, auf, oph (modern form from 1630s), “a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies” [Johnson], from a Scandinavian source, cf. Norwegian alfr “silly person,” in Old Norse, “elf” (see elf). Hence, “a misbegotten, deformed idiot.” Until recently, some dictionaries still gave the plural as oaves.