dodge
/dɑd͡ʒ/verb, noun, adjective
dodge is spelled D-O-D-G-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, dodge means “To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in dodge?
| Letters | 5: D-O-D-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is dodge?
Dodge appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 dodge?
- UK /dɒd͡ʒ/
- US /dɑd͡ʒ/
Dodge 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-dodge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with dodge?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dodge from its last stressed vowel (/ɑdʒ/):
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 dodge
- dodges present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- dodging participle, present
- dodged participle, past
- more dodge comparative
- most dodge superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dodge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
He dodged traffic crossing the street.
- 2
To avoid; to sidestep.
The politician dodged the question with a meaningless reply.
- 3
To elude.
- 4
archaicTo go, or cause to go, hither and thither.
- 5
To make an area of an image lighter (when processing photographs in a darkroom, this is accomplished by decreasing the exposure of that area to light).
- 6
To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
- 7
datedTo trick somebody.
noun
- 1
An act of dodging.
- 2
A trick, evasion or wile. (Now mainly in the expression tax dodge.)
- 3
slangA line of work.
adjective
- 1
AustraliaUKcolloquialDodgy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dodge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éviter, contourner, esquiver , éluder |
| German | ausweichen, beiseite springen , umgehen |
| Portuguese | esquivar , subexpor |
| Spanish | esquivar , capear |
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 dodge come from?
Likely from dialectal dodge, dod, dodd (“to jog, trudge along, totter", also "to jerk, jig”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from unrecorded Middle English *dodden, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dud- (“to move”), related to Old English dydrian, dyderian (“to delude, deceive”), Middle English dideren (“to tremble, quake, shiver”), English dodder, Norwegian dudra (“to tremble”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).