crikey

English

See also: crickey

Etymology

Euphemistic substitute for Christ. Compare criminy, cripes, crivvens. Attested from the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /kɹaɪki/, [kɹɑe̯kɪi̯]
  

  Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪki

Interjection

crikey

1. (UK, Ireland, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand) An exclamation of astonishment.

   Crikey, mate, that ain't a knife, this is a knife!

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:wow

Translations

exclamation of astonishment

• Finnish: herranen aika
• French: parbleu (fr), palsambleu (fr), morbleu (fr)
• German: hoppla (de), parbleu
• Italian: cribbio (it), perbacco (it), dannazione (it), osteria (it), alla faccia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: ēhe
• Portuguese: credo! (pt) m, bolas! (pt)
• Russian: бо́же мой (ru) m (bóže moj), на́до же (ru) n (nádo že), о бо́же n (o bóže)
• Spanish: caray (es),

References

• “crikey, int.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, November 2010.

Anagrams

• Rickey, rickey, yicker