dumdum

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

English

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

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

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

dumdum

Wikipedia

dumdum (plural dumdums)

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)

(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

to remember

Hiligaynon

Verb

dumdum

to recollect, remember, think

Mansaka

Verb

dumdum

to think

Ternate

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

moss

References

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