Dirt

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /dɜːt/
• GenAm IPA: /dɝt/
• NYC IPA: /dɜɪ̯t/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Alternative forms

• durt obsolete

Origin

From Middle English drit ("excrement"), probably from Old Norse drit ("exrement"), from Proto-Germanic *dritą, *dritō ("excrement"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd-, *treydʰ- ("to have diarrhea"). Cognate with Norwegian dritt ("excrement"), Icelandic drit ("bird exrement"), Dutch drijten ("to defecate"), drits ("dirt, mud, filth") and dreet ("excrement"), regional German Driss ("shit"), Old English ġedrītan ("to defecate"), Albanian ndyrë ("dirty, filthy").

Full definition of dirt

Noun

1. soil or earth
2. A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance
3. Previously unknown facts, or the invented "facts", about a person; gossipThe reporter uncovered the dirt on the businessman by going undercover.
4. Meanness; sordidness.
• Melmothhonours ... thrown away upon dirt and infamy
5. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive, rare) To make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty