dalek
English
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Dalek¹
- /ˈdɑːlɛk/ UK, US
Where it comes from
Coined by Terry Nation in 1963 for his script of The Mutants (later retitled "The Daleks"), the second serial of the first season of Doctor Who. Accounts of how he devised the word vary. Within the Doctor Who universe, the word is supposed to be related to the name of the people from whom the Daleks evolved, either the Kaleds (as according to later serial Genesis of the Daleks) or the Dals (as in The Daleks), or to derive from a word meaning "gods" in their (fictional) language, in which the sacred "Book of Predictions" is written. According to the I, Davros audio fiction the book reads "...and on that day, men will become as gods", with the last word pronounced "Dal-eks".
noun Daleks
- A member of a species of extraterrestrial cyborg mutants who appear in the television programme Doctor Who and are known for travelling in metallic shells, having monotone, mechanically distorted voices, repeating a limited number of phrases, and their fanatical obsession with exterminating other, non-Dalek beings. 'But Alydon,' I persisted, 'the Daleks aren't human beings. They're just evil, half creatures, half machines, determined to destroy you.'
- One who is dogmatic, unfeeling and determined. In an article in The Times Lord Chalfont said: "The programmed Daleks of the French military planners were evolving a plan which was really a carbon copy of the British plan."
dalek²
noun daleks
- Alternative letter-case form of Dalek
Talk about this word "dalek." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dalek. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dalek. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dalek "dalek." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dalek.Cite this
@misc{dalek_2026,
title = {dalek},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dalek},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
