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dodgy

/ˈdɒd͡ʒ.i/adjective

dodgy is spelled D-O-D-G-Y: 5 letters. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, dodgy means “Evasive and shifty” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in dodgy?

Letters5: D-O-D-G-Y
In writing2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is dodgy?

Dodgy appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th 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 dodgy?

  • /ˈdɒd͡ʒ.i/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: EN-AU_ck1_dodgy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of dodgy

  • dodgier comparative
  • dodgiest superlative

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

What does dodgy mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialEvasive and shifty.

    Asked why, a spokesman gave a dodgy answer about legal ramifications.

  2. 2

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialUnsound and unreliable.

    Never listen to dodgy advice.

  3. 3

    colloquialDishonest.

    The more money the better, because there is always that dodgy politician or corrupt official to bribe.

  4. 4

    colloquialRisky.

    This is a slightly dodgy plan, because there is a lot that is being changed for this fix.

  5. 5

    colloquialDeviant.

    He's a dodgy Peeping Tom.

  6. 6

    colloquialUncomfortable and weird.

    The situation was right dodgy.

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

Dodgy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchà la noix (evasive and shifty), pourri, pourrave (unsound and unreliable), malhonnête, croche (dishonest), périlleux (risky)
Germanausweichend (evasive and shifty), unzuverlässig (unsound and unreliable), unehrlich, unehrlich erworbeen (dishonest), riskant, risikoreich (risky)
Portugueseevasivo (evasive and shifty), desonesto (dishonest), arriscado (risky)
Spanishchungo, no fiable, poco fiable, flaite (unsound and unreliable), deshonesto (dishonest)

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 dodgy come from?

From dodge (verb) + -y. First used in mid-19th century England.

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

What to look up after dodgy