Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

flivver

/ˈflɪv.ɚ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.36 in modern English

Syllables: flivver
IPA: /ˈflɪv.ɚ/

16

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

1

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.

Canadian usage; American usage; Colloquial; Dated

noun

An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.

Canadian usage; American usage; Colloquial; Dated

noun

A destroyer of the United States Navy with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons.

American usage; Derogatory; Slang

Example Sentences

"Billy being too poor to own a car, had hired a cheap flivver for the day, and was purposely ten minutes behind the time, but to his disgust found the procession not yet started."
"Shortly after daylight a procession of mule-drawn waggons, broken-down flivvers, and buggies begins wheeling in from the countryside ..."
"These workers were often joined by impoverished small farmers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri who pooled their resources to buy a flivver and follow the harvest into the Dakotas and Canada."

Etymology

Unknown, early 20th c.. A book titled "At the Front in a Flivver" was published in 1917. Cartoonist Tad Dorgan in 1919 claimed to have created the term in his comic strip Judge Rummy.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈflɪv.ɚ/
British English: /ˈflɪv.ə(ɹ)/

Usage

Inflected Forms

flivvers (plural)

Synonyms

jalopy tin Lizzie banger beater bucket of bolts bucket of rust clunker crate crock flivver gas guzzler hooptie

Homonyms

fliver

Rhymes With

river south river north river west river hunter river murray river liver clyde river giver shiver sliver quiver

Questions

How do you pronounce flivver?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈflɪv.ɚ/.
What does flivver mean?: An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.
Where does flivver come from?: Unknown, early 20th c.. A book titled "At the Front in a Flivver" was published in 1917. Cartoonist Tad Dorgan in 1919 claimed to have created the term in his comic strip Judge Rummy.

How to pronounce flivver

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