Standard Lemma guide

goit

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ɡɔɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɔɪt

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small artificial channel carrying water. Usually used with respect to channels built to feed mills.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK

Qualifier: Yorkshire and Lancashire

Examples

  • We use watter as goes daan t'goit yonder for t'grinnelstuns.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A fool.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English gote (“channel, stream”), from Old English *gotu (“channel, gutter, drain”), from Proto-Germanic *gutō (“gutter, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵhew- (“to pour”). Cognate with Scots gote, goit, goate (“trench, ditch, watercourse”), Dutch goot (“gutter”), Middle Low German gote (“ditch”). More at gote.

Popularised by the television series Red Dwarf. Possibly a shortening of goitre (i.e. a pain in the neck), or from git.