gook
1 Americannoun
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guck.
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makeup, especially when thickly applied.
She looks ridiculous with all that gook around her eyes.
noun
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a contemptuous term used to refer to a native of Southeast Asia or the South Pacific, especially a member of an enemy military force.
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a contemptuous term used to refer to any dark-skinned foreigner, especially a non-European or non-American.
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anyone who is offensive to others because of stupidity, coarseness, etc.
noun
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slang a derogatory word for a person from a Far Eastern country
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informal a messy sticky substance; muck
Sensitive Note
The earliest recorded uses of this term were by U.S. Marines when referring to Haitians and Filipinos. It continued to be common slang in the American military, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Etymology
Origin of gook1
Expressive word, perhaps blend of goo and muck; guck
Origin of gook2
First recorded in 1915–20; of uncertain origin; compare earlier googoo, gugu, a contemptuous term for a Filipino, and perhaps comparable relationship of kook to cuckoo
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Somewhere along the way, Kim also became a food person and, by the age of 9, was honing her skills at making duk gook, a Korean rice cake soup.
From New York Times • Nov. 25, 2020
And you say, well, this sounds like gobbledy gook.
From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2015
Again, it will come down to getting the movies right which might mean cutting back on the parliamentary gook that weighed down the last three films and upping the emotions and humor.
From Forbes • Jun. 4, 2014
To the theorists, XML is an infinitely expressive language, and the processors are magic engines that extract meaning from a messy maze of incomprehensible gobbledy gook.
From The Guardian • May 20, 2010
Like a radio or something, but it’s not a radio, it’s this strange gook music that comes right out of the rocks.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
