humdinger
/hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/noun
humdinger is spelled H-U-M-D-I-N-G-E-R: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, humdinger means “Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of humdinger is humdingers.
How many letters and syllables are in humdinger?
| Letters | 9: H-U-M-D-I-N-G-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 124,184th 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 humdinger?
Humdinger appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th 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 humdinger?
- UK /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/
- US /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/
Humdinger has 3 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Neøn-humdinger.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with humdinger?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as humdinger from its last stressed vowel (/ɪŋəɹ/):
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 humdinger
- humdingers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does humdinger mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalSomething that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional.
Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does humdinger come from?
US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).