"Google-fu" meaning in English

See Google-fu in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery) Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|Google|fu|pos2=suffix indicating expertise or mastery}} Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery) Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} Google-fu (uncountable)
  1. (informal) Skill in using search engines (especially Google) to quickly find useful information on the Internet. Tags: informal, uncountable Categories (topical): Google Synonyms: google-fu, Google fu, google fu Related terms: -fu

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for Google-fu meaning in English (4.0kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Google",
        "3": "fu",
        "pos2": "suffix indicating expertise or mastery"
      },
      "expansion": "Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery)",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Google-fu (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English neologisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -fu",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Google",
          "orig": "en:Google",
          "parents": [
            "World Wide Web",
            "Internet",
            "Computing",
            "Networking",
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Johnny Long, Max Moser, Penetration Tester's Open Source Toolkit, Syngress, page 107",
          "text": "If you need to brush up on your Google-fu, check out Google Hacking for Penetration Testing from the talented and modest Johnny Long.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Eli Neiburger, Gamers... in the Library?!, ALA Editions, page 3",
          "text": "... they think they have all the Google-fu they'll ever need ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ben Grabow, \"Big Brother Is Watching You Google\", Scripps Howard News Service, May 9, E. W. Scripps",
          "text": "Coworkers seek out my Googling abilities. My Google-Fu is strong."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 May 5, Kevin Drum, “Political Animal: Corporate Welfare in the Oil Patch”, in Washington Monthly",
          "text": "... one thing that I did notice when I was doing a little google-fu on the issue is that there appears to be approximately 20 to 50 billion dollars spent by the federal government ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 6, Robin Abrahams, “Miss Conduct Chat”, in The Boston Globe",
          "text": "Oh, dang, I blogged about this once and can't find my blog post now (anyone with better Google-fu than I want to help?)",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 October 16, Austin Modine, “Internet searches stimulate brain more than books: Assuming good Google-fu”, in The Register",
          "text": "[Gary] Small suggests the inexperienced may register less brain activity because they haven't yet figured out the right strategies required to perform a successful search. In other words, their Google-fu is weak.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Gretchen McNeil, Get Dirty, HarperCollins",
          "text": "Kitty sighed. “It's worth looking into.” She pointed at the nearest computer. “Ed, I need your Googlefu.” Ed swung around and poised his fingers over the keyboard.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Skill in using search engines (especially Google) to quickly find useful information on the Internet."
      ],
      "id": "en-Google-fu-en-noun-Gk2AUkSV",
      "links": [
        [
          "Skill",
          "skill"
        ],
        [
          "search engine",
          "search engine"
        ],
        [
          "Google",
          "Google"
        ],
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Skill in using search engines (especially Google) to quickly find useful information on the Internet."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "-fu"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "google-fu"
        },
        {
          "word": "Google fu"
        },
        {
          "word": "google fu"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Google-fu"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Google",
        "3": "fu",
        "pos2": "suffix indicating expertise or mastery"
      },
      "expansion": "Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery)",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Google + -fu (suffix indicating expertise or mastery)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Google-fu (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "-fu"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English neologisms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms suffixed with -fu",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "en:Google"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Johnny Long, Max Moser, Penetration Tester's Open Source Toolkit, Syngress, page 107",
          "text": "If you need to brush up on your Google-fu, check out Google Hacking for Penetration Testing from the talented and modest Johnny Long.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Eli Neiburger, Gamers... in the Library?!, ALA Editions, page 3",
          "text": "... they think they have all the Google-fu they'll ever need ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ben Grabow, \"Big Brother Is Watching You Google\", Scripps Howard News Service, May 9, E. W. Scripps",
          "text": "Coworkers seek out my Googling abilities. My Google-Fu is strong."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 May 5, Kevin Drum, “Political Animal: Corporate Welfare in the Oil Patch”, in Washington Monthly",
          "text": "... one thing that I did notice when I was doing a little google-fu on the issue is that there appears to be approximately 20 to 50 billion dollars spent by the federal government ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 6, Robin Abrahams, “Miss Conduct Chat”, in The Boston Globe",
          "text": "Oh, dang, I blogged about this once and can't find my blog post now (anyone with better Google-fu than I want to help?)",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 October 16, Austin Modine, “Internet searches stimulate brain more than books: Assuming good Google-fu”, in The Register",
          "text": "[Gary] Small suggests the inexperienced may register less brain activity because they haven't yet figured out the right strategies required to perform a successful search. In other words, their Google-fu is weak.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Gretchen McNeil, Get Dirty, HarperCollins",
          "text": "Kitty sighed. “It's worth looking into.” She pointed at the nearest computer. “Ed, I need your Googlefu.” Ed swung around and poised his fingers over the keyboard.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Skill in using search engines (especially Google) to quickly find useful information on the Internet."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Skill",
          "skill"
        ],
        [
          "search engine",
          "search engine"
        ],
        [
          "Google",
          "Google"
        ],
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Skill in using search engines (especially Google) to quickly find useful information on the Internet."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "google-fu"
    },
    {
      "word": "Google fu"
    },
    {
      "word": "google fu"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Google-fu"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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