auxiliary verb
Attributive form of ごとし, used after nouns or attributive clauses to mean 'like' or 'as if'. Often found in formal or literary contexts.
See also: 如し
A person like him is rare.
auxiliary verb
something like ...; someone like ...
Used in the pattern ...のごときは to single out a particular example, often with a dismissive or emphatic nuance.
Someone like him is not even worth considering.
He showed a smile like an angel's.
It was a time like a dream.
Don't worry about a failure like this.
Someone like me isn't yet qualified to speak about this world.
He acted as if he knew nothing at all.
ようだ is the everyday equivalent for 'seems like/similar to', while ごとき is a formal, literary word used mainly in classical or highly formal registers.
みたいだ is a casual, spoken way to say 'like/similar to', in contrast to the stiff, written-style ごとき.
如し is the plain/terminal form used at the end of a clause ('…のごとし'), while ごとき is the attributive form used directly before a noun.
如し ends a sentence as a predicate, while 如き is the attributive form placed directly before a noun ('a thing like ~').
Classical Japanese attributive form of the auxiliary adjective ごとし, which expresses similarity or likeness. The exact derivation is uncertain, but it has been used since Old Japanese.