# dodge

> English word · Verb · IPA /dɒd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #7,913

## Definitions
1. To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
2. To avoid; to sidestep.
3. To elude.
4. To 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. To trick somebody.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **dog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dog)
- **doe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doe)
- **done** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-done)
- **dude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dude)
- **dogs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dogs)
- **dose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dose)
- **Doug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doug)
- **dome** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dome)
- **dope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dope)
- **dong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dong)
- **dove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dove)
- **dole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dole)
- **Dogg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dogg)
- **doge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doge)
- **dodo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dodo)
- **doze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doze)
- **Dore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dore)
- **dough** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-dough)
- **Doyle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doyle)
- **doggy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dodge-vs-doggy)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ddodge`, `ddoge`, `doddge`, `dodeg`, `dodgge`, `dogde`, `oddge`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dodge