dumdum

See also: Dum Dum, dum-dum, and dum dum

English

Etymology 1

From Dum Dum, a city in India where the type of bullet was developed, from Hindi दम दम (dam dam) (Bengali দমদম (domodom)), from Hindi दमदमा (damadmā, “tenaille, a raised mound or battery”).

Alternative forms

• dum-dum
• dum dum

Noun

dumdum (plural dumdums)

1. A soft-nosed bullet that expands on impact to cause a gaping wound.
   • March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine‎^[1], page 267:

     He related to us how the savages make bullets from the heart of a very hard wood cured by a special process. These bullets are only effectual when fired from a short range, and when they lodge in the flesh they explode like dumdum bullets.

     (He here refers to Tim Soan, a Taiwanese aboriginal person)

Translations

bullet that expands on impact

• Finnish: dumdumluoti
• Greek: ντουμ-ντουμ (el) (ntoum-ntoum)
• Russian: дум-дум (ru) m (dum-dum)

Etymology 2

A reduplication of the adjective dumb, spelled in a "dumb" way (eye dialect).

Noun

dumdum (plural dumdums)

1. (childish or endearing) An ignorant person; an idiot.

Alternative forms

• dum dum, dumb dumb, dumb-dumb, dumbdumb

Translations

an idiot

• Finnish: tomppeli (fi)
• Hindi: मूर्ख (hi) (mūrkh), उल्लू (hi) (ullū)
• Russian: ду́рень (ru) m (dúrenʹ), болва́н (ru) m (bolván), о́лух (ru) m (ólux)
• Swedish: dumbom (sv) c, dumhuvud (sv) n, fårskalle (sv) c, idiot (sv) c

Aklanon

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *demdem.

Verb

dumdum

1. to remember

Hiligaynon

Verb

dumdum

1. to recollect, remember, think

Mansaka

Verb

dumdum

1. to think

Ternate

dumdum

Etymology

Likely from an older *dumudumu, from Proto-North Halmahera, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *lumut. Compare Sahu ḏuḏumutu, Tobelo lulumiti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dum.ˈdum/

Noun

dumdum

1. moss

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh