# dud

> English word · Noun · IPA /dʌd/ · frequency rank #29,251

## Definitions
1. A device or machine that is useless because it does not work properly or has failed to work, such as a bomb, or explosive projectile.
2. A failure of any kind.
3. A failure of any kind.
4. A failure of any kind.
5. Clothes, now always used in plural form duds.

## Etymology
From Middle English dudde (“cloak, mantle, kind of cloth; ragged clothing or cloth”), from Old English *dudda (attested only as personal name Dudda, part of modern English Dudley), akin to Old Norse dúði (“swaddling clothes”), Low German dudel. Possibly borrowed from the Old Norse word and related to dýja (“to shake, tremble”).

## Easily confused with
- **dw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dw)
- **Dx** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dx)
- **DV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dv)
- **dy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dy)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-due)
- **DVD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dvd)
- **duo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-duo)
- **dug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dug)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dye)
- **duh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-duh)
- **DUI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dui)
- **dun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dun)
- **dum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dum)
- **dup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dup)
- **dur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dur)
- **DWP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dwp)
- **dude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dude)
- **duty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-duty)
- **dumb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-dumb)
- **duke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dud-vs-duke)

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