bof

• IPA^(key): /bɔf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bof
• Rhymes: -ɔf

From Middle Dutch boffe (“strike, blow; cheek”).

bof m (plural boffen, diminutive bofje n)

1. (uncountable) mumps (contagious disease)
2. (countable) luck, fortune

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bof

1. first-person singular present indicative of boffen
2. imperative of boffen

• IPA^(key): /bɔf/

• Audio

  (file)

bof

1. so what, never mind, whatever, meh

   Cette fille est mignonne, hein ? — Bof ! (That girl's cute, eh? — Meh, she's OK.)

   • 2014 August 21, “A brazen heist in Paris [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times‎:

     The audacious hijacking in Paris of a van carrying the baggage of a Saudi prince to his private jet is obviously an embarrassment to the French capital, whose ultra-high-end boutiques have suffered a spate of heists in recent months. […] "The prince lost his day's pocket change? Bof!" wrote "Nico" in the newspaper Le Monde, using a French expression loosely translated as "big deal."

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

"Bof" is a multi use word, akin to “meh” in English. It is commonly used before the French phrase "je ne sais pas", meaning "I don't know". For example:

• Qu'est-ce que tu veux boire ? (What do you want to drink?)
• Bof... Je ne sais pas. (Hmpf... I don’t know.)

• "Équipe 1"-1999 Oxford University Press