oojah capivvy
/ˌudʒə kəˈpɪvi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
35
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Birkinshaw: I suppose you ’aven’t time to help me with the post, have you? I’d like to get off to time to-night. Pat: All right. Birkinshaw: There’s a whole lot in the Oojah Capivvy now. If you’d just take ’em and fold ’em and stick ’em in the envelopes, and bung ’em across to me, I’ll enter ’em up."
- "If that’s what you want to work for, right, let’s start, get the bibles out. ―Ooja ka pivi! commented Barnes, and added as an afterthought: Spas!"
- "One might observe what usually happens to people who by chance listen to radio news in a foreign language: folk-etymological re-interpretation sets in immediately after apperception of the unfamiliar sound chain. The Sunday Times (11.2.62) had the example UJAHKAPIV (from Napolitanian AGIO CAPIT = HO CAPITO ="I've understood" which with British soldiers came to denote "anything of which the name was unknown")."
- "It's a bit like a ujakapivi, only they copy that idea from the wigwam for a goose's bridle.lol"
Etymology
Unknown. Perhaps from Urdu ḥujjat kāfī fīhi (“argument is sufficient”); compare oojah. Sornig (see quotations below) suggests derivation from Neapolitan agio capit (“I've understood”), but seems to be alone in this suggestion. Attested from the 1910s, often described as soldiers’ or sailors’ slang.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌudʒə kəˈpɪvi/
- British English: /ˌuːdʒɑː kəˈpɪvi/