kluge
See also: Kluge
English
Etymology
From US military slang, possibly from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German klug (“clever”), or perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch Low Saxon klütje (“(little) dumpling, clod”), Jutland Danish klyt (“piece of bad workmanship, klud(g)e”); compare and standard Danish kludder (“mess, disorder”). (Compare klutz.)
According to the OED, an "invented word" influenced by bodge and fudge.
Compare kludge.
Pronunciation
Noun
kluge (plural kluges)
- Something that should not work, but does.
- A device assembled from components intended for disparate purposes.
Usage notes
- Today, kluge and kludge are often used as alternative spellings of the same word, although a distinction in usage can perhaps be detected: in the UK, the connotation of kludge is almost wholly negative (as befits its alleged derivation), while US usage of kluge, following its alleged German derivation, admits some fondness or admiration for the cleverness or functionality underlying a working klu(d)ge.
Synonyms
- (something that should not work but does): see Thesaurus:workaround
Verb
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- Alternative form of kludge
References
Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
kluge
- inflection of klug:
Categories:
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Dutch Low Saxon
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/uːdʒ
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms