Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

footle

/ˈfuːtəl/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: foo-tle
IPA: /ˈfuːtəl/

9

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To waste time; to trifle.

verb

To talk nonsense.

verb

Archaic

noun

nonsense; foolishness.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Curtis says that he works like any other journalist: people and ideas grab him; he wastes time on TikTok, which he adores; he footles about in libraries."

Etymology

Probably variant of footer (“to screw around”), from obsolete fouter (“an act of sexual intercourse”), from French foutre (“to have sexual intercourse”), from Latin futuere.

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: foutre, futuere

Usage

Inflected Forms

footles (present, singular) footling (participle, present) footled (participle, past) footled (past)

Derived Forms

footler

Phrases

footle about footle around footle away

Synonyms

arse about arse around bludge bum around cabbage clown around dally dawdle dick about dick around diddle dilly-dally

Rhymes With

brutal tootle pootle rootle recruital

Questions

How do you pronounce footle?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈfuːtəl/.
What does footle mean?: To waste time; to trifle.
Where does footle come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce footle

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “footle”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈfuːtəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “footle”.
Repeat and practice — Say “footle” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.