Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ding-a-ling

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.26 in modern English

Syllables: ding-a-ling
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The sound of a small bell; the sound of a fire engine bell.

noun

An eccentric, crazy, or stupid person.

Slang

noun

The penis.

Slang

adj

Slang

Example Sentences

"The ding-a-ling from the fire truck somehow filled him with more dread than its horn blasts could: for whom does that bell toll?"
"Pay no heed to what she hollers — she's a ding-a-ling!"
"They explained patiently but firmly that he wasn't to play with his ding-a-ling nor try to show it to anyone."
"This is Henry the Eighth? My God, was he girthy. My God, is that really how big his ding-a-ling was?"
"Joe is so ding-a-ling, I think I'm in love."

Etymology

Imitative. The penis sense may be an alteration of dingling, a diminutive of ding (“penis”).

Usage

Slang

Inflected Forms

ding-a-lings (plural) more ding-a-ling (comparative) most ding-a-ling (superlative)

Frequently Paired Words

ding-dong jingle tinkle bong dong gong bring brring

Synonyms

ting-a-ling tingaling ringaling ring-a-ding ding-dong dingbat addle-brain addlehead addle pate airhead baboon beanbrain

Questions

What does ding-a-ling mean?: The sound of a small bell; the sound of a fire engine bell.
Where does ding-a-ling come from?: Imitative. The penis sense may be an alteration of dingling, a diminutive of ding (“penis”).

How to pronounce ding-a-ling

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “ding-a-ling”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “ding-a-ling”.
Repeat and practice — Say “ding-a-ling” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.