dud

\dʌd\

/\dʌd\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dud” is uncommon French (frequency #62,208 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,208
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Quelque chose de défectueux.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dud · dud · French

dud · rank #62,208 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,208
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH Dries

Nearest frequency peer: Dries (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dud »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dud » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dud
PropertyValue
Headworddud
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dʌd\
Letters3
Frequency rank#62,208
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dud » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).dudtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Dries » (#62,207), « dysfonction » (#62,210), « drapés » (#62,205). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dud » est au #62,208. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dud is uncommon French at frequency #62,208 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \dʌd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dud, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is dud, spelled D-U-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Quelque chose de défectueux.
  2. 2
    Quelque chose de défectueux.
  3. 3
    Quelque chose de défectueux.
  4. 4
    Vêtements. Note d’usage : aujourd'hui utilisé exclusivement au pluriel → voir duds.
  5. 5
    Perdant, loser.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how dud appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. They missed killing a judge in Londonderry because the RPG round was a dud—it still took his bodyguard out.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dud"?
"dud" is spelled D-U-D. The IPA pronunciation is \dʌd\.
What does "dud" mean?
As a noun, "dud" means: Quelque chose de défectueux.
How do you pronounce "dud"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dud" is \dʌd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dud" come from?
"dud" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dud", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

DLL#62,202CSO#62,182efi#62,238erg#62,255

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list