skedaddle
/skɪˈdædɫ̩/verb, noun
skedaddle is spelled S-K-E-D-A-D-D-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is skadaddle: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 32 of all searches for the word. Skedaddle is a verb meaning “To move or run away quickly”.
How many letters and syllables are in skedaddle?
| Letters | 9: S-K-E-D-A-D-D-L-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 130,282nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, skadaddle, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell skedaddle?
Skedaddle is spelled S-K-E-D-A-D-D-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 32 of the searches for skedaddle in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is skedaddle?
Skedaddle appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 130,282nd 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 skedaddle?
- US /skɪˈdædɫ̩/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-skedaddle.ogg, En-au-skedaddle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with skedaddle?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as skedaddle from its last stressed vowel (/ædl/):
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 skedaddle
- skedaddles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- skedaddling participle, present
- skedaddled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does skedaddle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
USinformalTo move or run away quickly.
- 2
To spill; to scatter.
noun
- 1
informalThe act of running away; a scurrying off.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Skedaddle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | déguerpir |
| German | abhauen, türmen , Weglaufen, Abhauen, Flucht |
| Portuguese | dar no pé |
| Spanish | largarse, irse, pirarse, pirárselas, barajustar, barajustarse |
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 skedaddle come from?
First use appears c. 1861, in the New York Tribune. The word appeared and gained prominence in Civil War military contexts around 1861, and rapidly passing into more general use. Possibly an alteration of British dialect scaddle (“to run off in a fright”), from the adjective scaddle (“wild, timid, skittish”), from Middle English scathel, skadylle (“harmful, fierce, wild”), of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse *skǫðull; akin to Old Norse skaði (“harm”). Possibly related to the Ancient Greek σκέδασις (skédasis, “scattering”), σκεδασμός (skedasmós, “dispersion”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).