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PlainSpell

dirty

dirt·y/ˈdɝti/adjective, adverb, verb, noun

dirty is spelled D-I-R-T-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (dirt·y). It appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, dirty means “Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in dirty?

Letters5: D-I-R-T-Y
Syllables2: dirt·y
In writing35 times per million words; the 2,725th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is dirty?

Dirty appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce dirty?

  • UK /ˈdɜːti/
  • US /ˈdɝti/
  • US [ˈdɝɾi]

Dirty has 2 syllables, split dirt·y in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-dirty.ogg, En-us-dirty.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-dirty.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with dirty?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dirty from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹti/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of dirty

  • dirtier comparative
  • dirtiest superlative
  • dorty
  • more dirty comparative
  • most dirty superlative
  • dirties present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • dirtying participle, present
  • dirtied participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does dirty mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.

    Despite a walk in the rain, my shoes weren't too dirty.

  2. 2

    That makes one unclean; corrupting, infecting.

    Don't put that in your mouth, dear. It's dirty.

  3. 3

    Morally unclean; obscene or indecent, especially sexually.

    At the reception, Uncle Nick got drunk and told dirty jokes to the bridesmaids.

  4. 4

    Dishonorable; violating accepted standards or rules.

    He might have scored, but it was a dirty trick that won him the penalty.

  5. 5

    Corrupt, illegal, or improper.

    I won't accept your dirty money!

  6. 6

    Out of tune.

    You need to tune that guitar: the G string sounds dirty.

  7. 7

    Of color, discolored by impurities.

    The old flag was a dirty white.

  8. 8

    Containing data needing to be written back to memory or disk.

    Occasionally it reads the sector into a dirty buffer, which means it needs to sync the dirty buffer first.

adverb

  1. 1

    In a dirty manner.

    to play dirty

verb

  1. 1

    To make (something) dirty.

  2. 2

    To stain or tarnish (somebody) with dishonor.

  3. 3

    To debase by distorting the real nature of (something).

  4. 4

    To become soiled; to soil or defecate on.

noun

  1. 1

    Anything that is dirty.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Dirty in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsale (covered with or containing dirt), salissant (that makes one dirty), cochon (morally unclean, obscene or indecent), salement (in a dirty manner), salir (to make dirty), avilir (to stain or tarnish with dishonor)
Germanschmutzig, dreckig, verdreckt (covered with or containing dirt), verdrecken, beschmutzen (to make dirty)
Portuguesesujo (covered with or containing dirt), sujar (to make dirty), manchar, conspurcar (to stain or tarnish with dishonor), sujar-se (to become soiled)
Spanishsucio, chuco, shuco (covered with or containing dirt), verde (morally unclean, obscene or indecent), obscenamente (in a dirty manner), ensuciar (to make dirty)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does dirty come from?

From Middle English dirti, alteration of earlier dritti, equivalent to dirt + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German drēterich (“dirty”). See also drite.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after dirty