thingy

See also: Thingy

English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθɪŋiː/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈθɪŋi/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪŋi

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tenk-?

Proto-Indo-European *tenkóm

Proto-Germanic *þingą

Proto-West Germanic *þing

Old English þing

Middle English thing

English thing

Old English -iġ

Middle English -y

English -y

English thingy

From thing + -y (diminutive suffix).

Alternative forms

thingie, thingee

Noun

thingy (plural thingies)

(informal) A thing (used to refer to something vaguely or when one cannot recall or does not wish to mention its name).
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thingy
- 1996, Antonio Skármeta, translated by Jonathan Tittler, Love-Fifteen, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Latin American Literary Review Press, →ISBN, page 115:
  And as soon as that temperature returns to normal, let’s talk about the thingies that go through your headie at night.
- 2013, Iain Banks, Raw Spirit, page 60:
  What I should really do, of course, is use a Personal Digital Assistant; one of those tiny hand-held computerette thingies […]
- 2023, Steve G Romaniuk, Tales from the Alternate Universe: Vol. 1:
  The incorporated technology is based on absolutely serious alt-fact science—that old familiar Einsteiny, time dilation thingy only in reverse— which also forms the basis of much of LaLa Valley's tech AI prowess.
(slang, euphemistic, childish) A penis.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis
- 2004, Richard Tinsley, Walking on the Son:
  He pulled out his thingy. It was huge.

Derived terms

object thingy

Translations

a thing

Azerbaijani: şey (az), zad (az), adı bilinməz
Basque: zera
Bulgarian: как се казваше (kak se kazvaše), такова (takova)
Catalan: daixonses (ca), fòtil (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 什麽玩意 / 什么玩意 (shénme wányì), 玩意 (zh) (wányì), 什麼玩意的 / 什么玩意的 (shénme wányì de)
Danish: dims c, tingest c, dippedut c, himstregims c
Dutch: dinges (nl) m
Esperanto: umo (eo)
Finnish: juttu (fi), kapine (fi), vekotin (fi)
French: bidule (fr) m, machin (fr) m, truc (fr) m, chose (fr) f
Galician: conto (gl) m, couso (gl) m, aquel (gl) m, aqueloutro m, aquela f
Georgian: რაღაცა (raɣaca)
German: Dings (de), Dingsbums (de), Dingsda (de), Etwas (de)
Greek: μαραφέτι (el) n (maraféti), μαντζαφλάρι (el) n (mantzaflári)
Ancient Greek: σκινδαψός m (skindapsós)
Hungarian: izé (hu), micsoda (hu), hogyishívják (hu)
Icelandic: dót (is) n
Italian: coso (it), qualcosa (it), robo (it) m
Japanese: あれ (ja) (are), やつ (ja) (yatsu)
Māori: mea
Navajo: ńléí, eidí, eii
Norwegian: duppeditt m, dippedutt m
Bokmål: dingsbums (no) m
Persian: چیز (fa)
Polish: wihajster (pl) m, ustrojstwo (pl) n, śmeges m, tenteges m, dzyndzel (pl) m, dynks (pl) m, pierdzielnik m, gżdynks m, pipsztyk (pl) m
Portuguese: treco (pt), negócio (pt) m, bagaça (pt) f, coisa (pt) f, troço (pt) m, bagulho (pt) m, cena (pt)
Romanian: chestie (ro) f
Russian: шту́ка (ru) f (štúka), шту́чка (ru) f (štúčka), штуко́вина (ru) f (štukóvina)
Spanish: chisme (es) m, chirimbolo (es) m, coso (es) m, chunche (es) m, perol (es) m, caroto m
Swedish: grej (sv) c, pryl (sv) c, manick (sv) c, tingest (sv) c
Tamil: இது (ta) (itu)
Ukrainian: цей (uk) (cej), цейво́ (cejvó), той (uk) (toj), тойво (tojvo), як його (jak joho), штука f (štuka)
Vietnamese: gì đó

Pronoun

thingy

(informal) A person whose name one cannot recall.
Hyponyms: what's-his-name, what's-her-name, what's-his-face, what's-her-face

He reminds me of thingy from that film.

Etymology 2