doohickey

See also: doo-hickey

English

Alternative forms

• dohickey, do-hickey, do-hinky, doohinky

Etymology

First attested 1914, of uncertain origin, probably from doodad + hickey.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈduhɪki/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

doohickey (plural doohickeys)

1. A thing (used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall)

   What does this doohickey do?

Synonyms

• dohickey
• dojigger
• doodad, doodah
• gimmick
• gismo, gizmo
• gubbins
• hickey
• kajigger
• thingamabob, thingmabob, thingumabob, thingummabob
• thingamajig, thingmajig, thingumajig, thingummajig
• thingummy
• thingy
• whatsit
• whaddayacallit, whatchamacallit
• da kine (local Hawaiian slang)
• See also Thesaurus:thingy

Translations

a thing

• Dutch: dinges (nl) m
• Finnish: vehje (fi), vekotin (fi), hilavitkutin (fi)
• French: truc (fr) m, machin (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Dingsbums (de), Dingsda (de)
• Italian: coso (it)
• Maori: mea

• Polish: wihajster (pl) m
• Portuguese: coisa (pt) f, negócio (pt) m
• Russian: штуко́вина (ru) f (štukóvina)
• Serbo-Croatian: stvarčica (sh) f
• Swedish: grunka (sv), mackapär (sv), manick (sv), mojäng (sv), pryl (sv), sak (sv), ting (sv), tingest (sv)
• Tok Pisin: samting (tpi)

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on placeholder names