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dingus

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dingus¹

  • /ˈdɪŋɡəs/

Rhymes with -ɪŋɡəs

Where it comes from

Probably of multiple origins. Partially a borrowing from Dutch dinges (“thingamajig, thingy; whatshisname, whatshername”), ding (“thing”). Probably also partially a borrowing from Afrikaans in view of its South African occurrence. The spelling dingus is a pseudo-Latinism to look like a Latin word ending in -us.

noun dinguses · dinges

  1. Canada, South Africa, US, informal A gadget, device, or object whose name is either unknown, forgotten, or omitted for the purpose of humor. "If anybody should come in, and catch you with your breeches, as it were, down on the floor, all you have to do is to drink the water, wrap the rubber dingus around you, and tell them to “lay on Macduff.”

    Similar: thingamajig, Sorted by number of Google hits, widget, hickey, gizmo, thingy, gimmick, thingie, jigger, gismo, gubbins, whatsit

  2. Canada, US, derogatory, endearing, humorous, informal A foolish, incompetent, or silly person. I just lost my keys again. Now I feel like a dingus.

    Similar: doofus

  3. slang, vulgar The penis. "He got mad at me because his dingus wouldn’t come up for him — too drunk, I guess. […]

    Similar: dink, anaconda, baloney pony, bald-headed hermit, banana, bird, birdie, bobby, boonga, cack, choad, choda

Dingus²

Where it comes from

Probably an Americanized spelling of German Dinges.

proper noun Dinguses

  1. A surname.

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Cite this
MLA

"dingus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dingus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dingus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dingus

Chicago

"dingus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dingus.

BibTeX
@misc{dingus_2026,
  title = {dingus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dingus},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}