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PlainSpell

walkabout

noun

walkabout is a noun meaning “A period, often extended, during which an Aboriginal person left a station or settlement to travel on country, typically seasonally or for…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled W-A-L-K-A-B-O-U-T, and it appears about once in every 3 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of walkabout is walkabouts.

What does walkabout mean?

noun

  1. 1

    AustraliaA period, often extended, during which an Aboriginal person left a station or settlement to travel on country, typically seasonally or for traditional cultural reasons; a journey by foot taken by an Aboriginal as a temporary withdrawal from white society.

  2. 2

    A walking trip.

  3. 3

    UKA public stroll by some celebrity to meet a group of people informally.

  4. 4

    An absence, usually from a regular place with a possibility of a return.

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

Forms of walkabout

  • walkabouts plural

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

How common is walkabout?

Walkabout appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th 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).

Words people confuse with walkabout

Also written: walk about (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Walkabout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpériple (walking trip), bain de foule (public stroll)
GermanRundgang, Bad in der Menge (public stroll)
Spanishbaño de masas (public stroll)

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 walkabout come from?

Deverbal from walk about, originally in Australian Pidgin English.

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