"goody two shoes" meaning in English

See goody two shoes in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: goody two shoes [plural]
Etymology: From goody (“goodwife, obsolete title of respect for a woman”) + two + shoes. Generally considered to have originated with the title character in The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765), which indeed seems to be the source of its later use as a common noun with the present meaning. However, as a proper noun with implications of wealth rather than goodness, it is also found earlier, c. 1687, in the writings of Charles Cotton: “Why, what then; Goody Two-Shoes, what if it be? / Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle, quoth he.” Etymology templates: {{af|en|goody|two|shoes|t1=goodwife, obsolete title of respect for a woman}} goody (“goodwife, obsolete title of respect for a woman”) + two + shoes Head templates: {{en-noun|goody two shoes}} goody two shoes (plural goody two shoes)
  1. (derogatory) A goody-goody; a person who is exceptionally good and perhaps self-satisfied. Wikipedia link: Charles Cotton, The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes Tags: derogatory Categories (topical): People Synonyms: goody-two-shoes, goody two-shoes, goodie two shoes, goodie two-shoes Synonyms (exceptionally good person): boy scout Translations (goody-goody): יֶלֶד טוֹב יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yéled tov yrushaláim) [masculine] (Hebrew), па́инька (páinʹka) [feminine] (Russian), свято́ша (svjatóša) [masculine] (Russian), bror Duktig [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-goody_two_shoes-en-noun-0VPc0Av2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for goody two shoes meaning in English (3.4kB)

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  "etymology_text": "From goody (“goodwife, obsolete title of respect for a woman”) + two + shoes. Generally considered to have originated with the title character in The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765), which indeed seems to be the source of its later use as a common noun with the present meaning. However, as a proper noun with implications of wealth rather than goodness, it is also found earlier, c. 1687, in the writings of Charles Cotton: “Why, what then; Goody Two-Shoes, what if it be? / Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle, quoth he.”",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "2006 June 18, William Safire, quoting Harry Reid, “Logoloco”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 April 24, Patrick Wintour, “Jeremy Hunt: the 'goody two shoes' caught up in BSkyB scandal”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "[Jeremy Hunt] is charming, thoughtful and amusing in private, and one ally said he was \"almost a goody two shoes\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 December 11, Stephen Holden, “Goody-Two-Shoes Loses His Footing”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "But the flaw at the heart of the movie is the decision of this goody-two-shoes to commit a series of robberies to support the family.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "(derogatory) A goody-goody; a person who is exceptionally good and perhaps self-satisfied."
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        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "yéled tov yrushaláim",
          "sense": "goody-goody",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
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          "roman": "páinʹka",
          "sense": "goody-goody",
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "па́инька"
        },
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "svjatóša",
          "sense": "goody-goody",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "свято́ша"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "goody-goody",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "bror Duktig"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Charles Cotton",
        "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "goody two shoes"
}
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        "(derogatory) A goody-goody; a person who is exceptionally good and perhaps self-satisfied."
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      "sense": "exceptionally good person",
      "word": "boy scout"
    },
    {
      "word": "goody-two-shoes"
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    {
      "word": "goody two-shoes"
    },
    {
      "word": "goodie two shoes"
    },
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      "word": "goodie two-shoes"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "yéled tov yrushaláim",
      "sense": "goody-goody",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "יֶלֶד טוֹב יְרוּשָׁלַיִם"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "páinʹka",
      "sense": "goody-goody",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "па́инька"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "svjatóša",
      "sense": "goody-goody",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "свято́ша"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "goody-goody",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "bror Duktig"
    }
  ],
  "word": "goody two shoes"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 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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