Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

eat one's own dog food

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.21 in modern English

Syllables: eat one's own -dog -food
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To use products or services one is selling internally, in order to understand their limitations.

Slang

verb

To use or consume the economic goods or services that one is producing; to be part of a closed household economy.

Example Sentences

"AOL was signing up members at a furious rate, in part because it provided a better user experience than Juno, and we didn't understand that, because we didn't eat our own dog food."
"As with most Microsoft product teams, we eat our own dog food."

Etymology

From dog food (“beta software”).

Usage

Slang

Inflected Forms

eats one's own dog food (present, singular) eating one's own dog food (participle, present) ate one's own dog food (past) eaten one's own dog food (participle, past)

Phrases

drink the Kool-Aid high on one's own supply

Frequently Paired Words

drink the Kool-Aid high on one's own supply

Synonyms

dogfood

Questions

What does eat one's own dog food mean?: To use products or services one is selling internally, in order to understand their limitations.
Where does eat one's own dog food come from?: From dog food (“beta software”).

How to pronounce eat one's own dog food

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