whatchamacallit
what·cha·ma·call·it/ˈwʌt͡ʃəməˌkɔlɪt/noun
whatchamacallit is spelled W-H-A-T-C-H-A-M-A-C-A-L-L-I-T: 15 letters and 5 syllables (what·cha·ma·call·it). It appears about once in every 41 million words in written English, the 196,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, whatchamacallit means “A metasyntactic term used for any object whose actual name the speaker does not know or cannot remember; a doodad, gizmo, thingamajig, thingy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whatchamacallit is whatchamacallits or whatchamacallem.
How many letters and syllables are in whatchamacallit?
| Letters | 15: W-H-A-T-C-H-A-M-A-C-A-L-L-I-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5: what·cha·ma·call·it |
| In writing | about once in every 41 million words; the 196,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is whatchamacallit?
Whatchamacallit appears about once in every 41 million words in written English, the 196,618th 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 whatchamacallit?
- UK /ˈwɒtʃəməˌkɔːlɪt/
- US /ˈwʌt͡ʃəməˌkɔlɪt/
- US /ˈwʌt͡ʃməˌkɑlɪt/
Whatchamacallit has 5 syllables, split what·cha·ma·call·it in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-whatchamacallit.ogg, En-au-whatchamacallit.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of whatchamacallit
- whatchamacallits plural
- whatchamacallem plural
- whatchamacall'em plural
- what-you-may-call-it
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does whatchamacallit mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
colloquialA metasyntactic term used for any object whose actual name the speaker does not know or cannot remember; a doodad, gizmo, thingamajig, thingy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Whatchamacallit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any object the actual name of which the speaker does not know or cannot remember:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bidule, truc, trucmuche, machin, machin-chose, schmilblick |
| German | Dingsbums, Dingsda, Krimskrams |
| Portuguese | coisa, negócio, treco, troço, bagulho, parada |
| Spanish | chisme, chunche, chingadera, coso, vaina, comosellama |
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 whatchamacallit come from?
Univerbation and contraction of what you may call it. United States, 20th century (recorded in 1921).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).