thingamajig

English

Alternative forms

• thingamejig, thingumajig, thingummyjig

Etymology

From thingum or thingummy +‎ jig, metrically patterned like gobbledygook, rigamarole. Compare thingamabob, etc. Earliest citation from 1824 as thingumajigs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɪŋəməˌd͡ʒɪɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

thingamajig (plural thingamajigs)

1. (informal) Something that one does not know the name of.

   He used this, this... this thingamajig you saw him with the other day to fix the problem.

   • 1924, Hal Roach, H. M. Walker, Our Gang: The Sun Down Limited‎^[1], retrieved 30 March 2023:

     "– – Engeneerin' is a cinch – All y' gotta do is shove one thingamajigg an' pull 'nother – –"

   • 1991 May 30, Emily Gwathmey, “Storage Box: Catchall's New Life as Eye-Catcher”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 14 December 2024:

     STORAGE boxes -- catchalls for flotsam, jetsam, whatnots and thingamajigs -- are gaining new interest as decorative objects for the home.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:thingy

Translations

something that one does not know the name of

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: بتاعة (betāʕa)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܗܸܢܵܐ (hinnā)

• Catalan: daixonses (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玩意兒 / 玩意儿 (zh) (wányìr)

• Czech: tentononc (cs) n
• Dutch: dinges (nl) n
• Esperanto: umo (eo)
• Finnish: härveli (fi), vehje (fi), kapistus (fi), kapine (fi)
• French: truc (fr) m, bidule (fr) m, (Quebec) patente (fr) f, machin (fr), trucmuche (fr) m
• Georgian: ისარაქვია (isarakvia)
• German: Dingsbums (de) n, Dingsda (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: σκινδαψός m (skindapsós)

• Hungarian: izé (hu)
• Italian: coso (it)
• Korean: 거시기 (geosigi), 뭐뭐뭐 (mwomwomwo)
• Māori: mea
• Polish: wihajster (pl) m, ustrojstwo (pl) n, śmeges m, tenteges m, dzyndzel (pl) m, dynks (pl) m, pierdzielnik m, gżdynks m, pipsztyk (pl) m
• Portuguese: coisa (pt) f, (Portugal) cena (pt) f, treco (pt) m, troço (pt) m
• Russian: штуко́вина (ru) f (štukóvina)
• Swedish: grunka (sv) c, tingest (sv) c, mojäng (sv) c, grejsimojs (sv)
• Turkish: zamazingo (tr), zımbırtı (tr), dalga dümen, dümen (tr)
• Ukrainian: цейво́ n (cejvó)
• Yiddish: װי־רופֿט־מען־עס m (vi-ruft-men-es)

Further reading

• placeholder name on Wikipedia.Wikipedia