Meanings
gobo1
- artsA screen (often in disc form) placed between a light and an illuminated actor or object in order to diffuse the glare.First known use early 20th c.
At the other extreme, with limitless budgets all they have to do is dream up amazing lighting rigs to be constructed and operated by the huge team of gaffers and sparks, with their generators, discharge lights, flags, gobos and brutes.
1999, Des Lyver, Graham Swainson, Basics of Video Lighting, page 103 - sound engineeringA device used to shield a microphone from extraneous sounds.First known use early 20th c.
gobo2
- uncountableThe taproot of young edible burdock plants (Arctium lappa), eaten as a root vegetable.First known use early 19th c.
While oriental and specialty markets sell Gobo root to Japanese cooks, herbal medicine enthusiasts use common burdock.
1988, Brant S. Rogers, Culinary Botany: The Essential Handbook
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
gobo · noun
Uncertain; possibly from go-b(etween) (“intermediary, middleman”) + -o (suffix forming informal terms).
Full word history & related roots →gobo · noun
- Middle Chinese牛蒡“burdock”
- Japaneseごぼう
- Englishgobo
Borrowed from Japanese ごぼう, ゴボウ, 牛蒡 (gobō, “burdock (Arctium lappa); burdock root”), from Middle Chinese 牛蒡 (ŋɨu pɑŋ^X, “burdock”) (modern Mandarin 牛蒡 (niúbàng)), from 牛 (ŋɨu, “ox”) + 蒡 (pɑŋ^X, a word only appearing in the compound 牛蒡), possibly because oxen have been observed eating the leaves of the plant when recovering from illness.
More words from Japanese, Middle Chinese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Dutch gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
French gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
German Gobo
- Gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Italian filtro, filtro
- filtroscreen placed between a light and an illuminated actor or object in order to diffuse the glare
- filtrodevice used to shield a microphone from extraneous sounds
- gobostemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
- filtrotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Norwegian Bokmål gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Spanish gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Swedish gobo
- gobotemplate inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with gobo
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
gobo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gobo
“gobo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gobo. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gobo,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gobo.
Source: gobo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.