Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hoddydoddy

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: hod-dy-dod-dy
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

4

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An awkward or foolish person.

Obsolete

noun

A snail or its shell.

Obsolete

Example Sentences

"Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you / That make your husband such a hoddy-doddy; / And you, young apple-squire, and old cuckold-maker"
"Name my accuſer ſaith he, or I defye thee Kemp at the quart ſtaffe. I told him, & all his anger turned to laughter: ſwearing it did him good to haue ill words of a hoddy doddy, a habber de hoy, a chicken, a ſquib, a ſquall: […]"
"A River snail in Oxfordshire is “Hoddy-doddy”; in Northamptonshire the Wall snail is “Packman snail.”"

Etymology

From hoddy-dod, an obsolete English regionalism meaning “periwinkle” or “snail”. Compare dodman.

Usage

Obsolete

Inflected Forms

hoddydoddies (plural)

Questions

What does hoddydoddy mean?: An awkward or foolish person.
Where does hoddydoddy come from?: From hoddy-dod, an obsolete English regionalism meaning “periwinkle” or “snail”. Compare dodman.

How to pronounce hoddydoddy

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