whodunit

English

WOTD – 2 July 2009

Alternative forms

• whodunnit

Etymology

Coined by critic Donald Gordon in 1930. Alteration and univerbation of who done it? with ellipsis of has. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˌhuːˈdʌn.ɪt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

whodunit (plural whodunits)

1. A novel or drama concerning a crime (usually a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator.
   • 1946, Josephina Niggli, Pointers on radio writing, Boston: The Writer, Inc., page 25:

     Actually, an whodunit is a mystery story. The hero is generally a detective, although sometimes he is a gentleman (apparently a mild mannered worm) who sallies forth at night to become Public Enemy No. One of Crime. Otherwise, the formula is exactly the same as that of the Cliff-hanger and follows the same rules.

Synonyms

(A fictional story of a crime which a detective solves): detective novel, detective story, mystery story

Hypernyms

(A fictional story of a crime which a detective solves): thriller

Related terms

• howdunit
• wheredunit
• whydunit

 

Translations

a crime novel or drama

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偵探小說／侦探小说 (zhēntàn xiǎoshuō)

• Danish: krimi (da), kriminalroman, kriminalfilm
• Dutch: detectiveverhaal (nl) n
• Finnish: salapoliisitarina, dekkari (fi)
• French: roman de détection m, roman à énigme m
• German: Kriminalroman (de) m, (colloquial) Krimi (de) m, Detektivroman m
• Hungarian: krimi (hu), detektívregény (hu), bűnügyi regény
• Japanese: 推理小説 (すいりしょうせつ, suiri shōsetsu)
• Macedonian: кримич m (krimič)
• Norwegian: kriminal c, krim (no) c, kriminalroman c, kriminalfilm c
• Polish: kryminał (pl) m, powieść kryminalna f, powieść detektywistyczna f
• Portuguese: romance criminal m
• Romanian: roman polițist (ro) n
• Russian: детекти́вный рома́н (dɛtɛktívnyj román), детекти́в (ru) (dɛtɛktív)
• Spanish: novela policíaca f, novela policial f
• Swedish: deckare (sv) c, kriminalroman (sv) c, kriminalfilm c
• Upper Sorbian: kriminalny roman m, kriminalka f, krimi m

See also

• police procedural

References

• Oxford Dictionaries [1]

Anagrams

• howdunit