Doodad

//ˈduːdæd// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Used to refer to something whose name one cannot recall: an unspecified device, gadget, part, or thing.

    "My mom has a clever doodad for peeling oranges."

  2. 2
    something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dohickeydojiggerdoohickeygimmickgismogizmo

Example

More examples

"I can't remember where this little doodad goes."

Etymology

Unknown; attested since the 1880s. Compare earlier daud (“a piece of something”), later doohickey (“a thing (whose name one cannot recall)”), dialectal dad, dadge (“a large piece, chunk”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.