Joe

Short form (diminutive form) of various names beginning with Jo..., particularly the male names Joseph and, less often, Joel, Josiah and Josias. The spelling Jo is used more often for diminutives of similar female names.

• enPR: jō
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəʊ/

    • Audio (Southern England)

      (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒoʊ/
• Homophones: Jo, joe, Zhou
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Joe

1. A diminutive of the male given names Joseph, Josiah, Joel, or Josias.
   • 1981 Orson Scott Card, Second Movement, Nebula Winners: Science Fiction Writers of America, Harper&Row, 1981, →ISBN, page 207

     "With a name like Joe," Joe always said, "I had to open a bar and grill, just so I could put up a sign saying 'Joe's Bar and Grill'."

2. (rare) Alternative form of Jo: a diminutive of various female given names.

Joe (plural Joes)

1. (informal) A male; a guy; a fellow.

   I'm just an ordinary Joe.

2. (archaic, slang) Synonym of Joe Miller (“an old joke”)
   • 1848, James Robinson Planché, The Golden Branch, page 22:

     O what "a Joe," — what an "old Joe!" — / A very "old Joe!" — / Old Joe Miller made the joke before, / But nothing tells better that ^[sic] a good old Joe!

• joe

From English Joe.

Joe

1. a male given name from English

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Joe.