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.
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.