boo-boo

[boo-boo]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR boo-boo ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural boo-boos. Slang.

a stupid or silly mistake; blunder.

a minor injury.

Origin of boo-boo

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; baby talk

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for boo-boo

shock, loss, cramp, cut, bruise, burn, wound, damage, laceration, sore, suffering, abuse, trauma, fracture, swelling, scar, sprain, omission, misstep, aberration

Examples from the Web for boo-boo

Contemporary Examples of boo-boo

And unlike the speech I delivered in 2003, you managed to finish without describing people who solve problems as “Boo-Boo Fixers.”
Read Jon Favreau’s Full Commencement Address to College of the Holy Cross
Jon Favreau
May 27, 2014

Historical Examples of boo-boo

"There's nothin' to boo-boo for," he said, with a half-affected brusqueness.
A Waif of the Plains
Bret Harte
"'Boo-boo' was the exception that proves the rule," answered Jack hotly.
What Timmy Did
Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes

British Dictionary definitions for boo-boo

boo-boo

noun plural -boos

informal an embarrassing mistake; blunder

Word Origin for boo-boo

C20: perhaps from nursery talk; compare boohoo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for boo-boo

"mistake," 1954, apparently a reduplication of boob, which had acquired a secondary sense of "foolish mistake" (1934).