dingus
/ˈdɪŋɡəs/
"dingus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dingus” is an uncommon English word, ranked #68,998 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #68,998
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A gadget, device, or object whose name is either unknown, forgotten, or omitted for the purpose of humor.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dingus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɪŋɡəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #68,998 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dingus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dingus is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɪŋɡəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #68,998 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for dingus in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Dutch dinges (“thingamajig, thingy; whatshisname, whatshername”), ding (“thing”). Probably also partly a borrowing from Afrikaans in view of its South African occurrence. The spelling dingus is remodeled… The correct English form is dingus, spelled D-I-N-G-U-S.
Definition
- 1A gadget, device, or object whose name is either unknown, forgotten, or omitted for the purpose of humor.
- 2A foolish, incompetent, or silly person.
- 3The penis.
Etymology
Probably of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Dutch dinges (“thingamajig, thingy; whatshisname, whatshername”), ding (“thing”). Probably also partly a borrowing from Afrikaans in view of its South African occurrence. The spelling dingus is remodeled to look like a Latin word ending in -us.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “dingus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-N-G-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɪŋɡəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.