oddball
/ˈɑːdˌbɔl/noun, adjective
oddball is spelled O-D-D-B-A-L-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, oddball means “An eccentric or unusual person” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of oddball is oddballs.
How many letters and syllables are in oddball?
| Letters | 7: O-D-D-B-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is oddball?
Oddball appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 oddball?
- US /ˈɑːdˌbɔl/
Oddball has 2 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)-Vealhurl-oddball.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of oddball
- oddballs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does oddball mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An eccentric or unusual person.
- 2
A deviant stimulus that appears among repetitive stimuli during an experiment, to trigger an event-related potential in the participant.
adjective
- 1
Exotic, not mainstream.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Oddball in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense eccentric person:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | excentrique, olibrius |
| German | Sonderling, Exzentriker |
| Portuguese | excêntrico |
| Spanish | estrafalario |
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 oddball come from?
Compound of odd + ball. First used in late 1930s, describing an extra ball played as a bonus in pin-ball type games. Well-attested since the 1940s, with the adjective appearing earlier than the noun.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).