ditch
/dɪt͡ʃ/noun, verb
ditch is spelled D-I-T-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ditch means “A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ditch is ditches.
How many letters and syllables are in ditch?
| Letters | 5: D-I-T-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ditch?
Ditch appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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 ditch?
- /dɪt͡ʃ/
Ditch has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ditch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ditch
- ditches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ditching participle, present
- ditched participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ditch mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage.
Digging ditches has long been considered one of the most demanding forms of manual labor.
- 2
IrelandA raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top.
- 3
Alternative form of deech.
verb
- 1
To discard or abandon; to stop associating with (someone).
Once the sun came out we ditched our rain-gear and started a campfire.
- 2
To deliberately crash-land an airplane on water.
When the second engine failed, the pilot was forced to ditch; their last location was just south of the Azores.
- 3
To deliberately not attend classes; to play hookey.
The truant officer caught Louise ditching with her friends, and her parents were forced to pay a fine.
- 4
To dig ditches.
Enclosure led to fuller winter employment in hedging and ditching.
- 5
To dig ditches around.
The soldiers ditched the tent to prevent flooding.
- 6
To throw into a ditch.
The engine was ditched and turned on its side.
- 7
Alternative form of deech.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ditch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fossé, tranchée, rigole , se débarrasser de, laisser tomber, larguer |
| German | Graben, Schanze , entledigen, verlassen, wegwerfen , notwassern |
| Portuguese | fosso, trincheira, vala , cabular aula, matar aula |
| Spanish | foso, surco, zanja, trinchera, acequia, cuneta |
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 ditch come from?
From Middle English dich, from Old English dīċ (“trench, moat”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz (compare Swedish dike, Icelandic díki, West Frisian dyk (“dam”), Dutch dijk (“dam”), German Teich (“pond”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stick, set up”) (compare Latin fīgō (“to affix, fasten”), Lithuanian diegti (“to prick; plant”), dýgsti (“to geminate, grow”)). Doublet of dike.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).