dof, adjective

/dɔf/
Origin:
Afrikaans.
colloquial
Stupid, dull, ‘dim’; uninformed. See also simpel.
1979 M. Anderson in Sunday Times 21 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 1Dof is being out of it.
1985 Woman’s Value Mar.I think Popshop is pretty dof in its whole approach, from a totally bloodless mode of presentation..to the sometimes dubious choice of canned ‘popular’ music.
1986 Informant, Durban, KwaZulu-NatalDon’t be dof, can’t you see what he’s going for?
1987 Fair Lady 21 Jan. 144‘Where’ve you been for the last 15 years?’ said the exasperated one. ‘You’re just dof.’
1989 A. Donaldson in Style Feb. 125Good ideas for parties are..black tie swing era things where everybody gets very bored very quickly with the dof selection of taped Glenn Miller standards.
1991 C.L. Ward Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeDof (adj.), dim (applied to intellect). It’s dof to boil an egg for 30 seconds and think that it’ll be hard-boiled.
1992 J. Khumalo in Pace Sept. 19Mention the name Joseph Shabalala and Black Mambazo to some dof, not-so-clued-up foreigners and suddenly images spring to their minds.
1993 Sunday Times 4 Apr. 21After two years.., researchers at Cardiff University have come to the conclusion that parrots are no smarter than pigeons...Polly may be pretty, but he’s also pretty dof.
Stupid, dull, ‘dim’; uninformed.
Derivatives:
Hence dof  noun, doffie.
1991 Informant, Durban, KwaZulu-NatalThat girl is so thick, she doesn’t have a brain in her head. What a dof!
1991 [see doffie].
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19791993

Derivatives

dof, n.
doer, adverbadv.doffie, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English