Meanings
dirt1
plural dirts · alternative durt
- uncountableusuallyPreviously unknown facts or rumors about a person.
The reporter uncovered the dirt on the businessman by going undercover.
1 more example
Perhaps inevitably, as the manipulation of the stars' public images became ever more rigorous, so too did the efforts of gossip columnists such as Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper to uncover dirt and scandal.
2011, David Puttnam, Movies and Money, Vintage, →ISBN - figurativelyuncountableusuallyMeanness; sordidness.
honours […] thrown away upon dirt and infamy
1810, W. Melmoth, transl., Letters of Pliny - uncountableusuallybusinessIn placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.
- uncountableusuallyFreckles.
I'm one of Charlie's Angels too, but I'm the one with the dirty face.
1983, Pat Phoenix, Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt, page 1582 more examples
a dirty-faced redhead poked a soiled kerchief beneath my nose, and charmlessly wheedled, "Spare coppers, mister, Spare coppers!" This runny-nosed waif, a "knacker" in the Dublin vernacular, was of the traveling breed who had of late given up their painted wagons for the grimy ghettos of the city. The child -God Bless the Mark- had freckles that splotched her face as though God had applied them too hurriedly with a blunt brush.
2005, Kevin O'Hara, Last of the Donkey Pilgrims: A Man's Journey Through Ireland, page 244Whatever you love about your freckles, they make you unique and beautiful. Don't always feel that you need to clean that dirt off your face with that foundation powder or contour layers. You're naturally beautiful as you are!
2016, Lindsay Bowman, To The Girls With Dirt On Their Faces - archaicuncountableusuallyExcrement; dung.
And the haft also went in after the blade: and the fatte closed vpon the blade, so that hee could not drawe the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 3:22
present singular third person dirts · participle present dirting · participle past dirted · past dirted · alternative durt
DIRT2
- IrelandabbreviationacronymuncountableAcronym of Deposit Interest Retention Tax.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(of roads) not leveled or drained; unsuitable for all year travel
nounthe part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock
nounanything regarded as making something unclean
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰreyd-
- Proto-Germanic*dritą
- Old Norsedrit“excrement”
- Middle Englishdrit“excrement”
- Englishdirt
From Middle English drit (“excrement”), from Old Norse drit (“excrement”), from Proto-Germanic *dritą, *dritō (“excrement”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd-, *treydʰ- (“to have diarrhea”). Cognate with dialectal Danish and Norn drit (“excrement”), Norwegian dritt (“excrement”), dialectal Swedish dret (“shit”), Faroese and Icelandic drit (“bird excrement”), Dutch drijten (“to defecate”), drits (“dirt, mud, filth”), drijt and dreet (“excrement”), Low German drieten (“to defecate”), Driet (“shit”), regional German Driss (“shit”), Old English ġedrītan (“to defecate”). The word originally referred to excrement before shifting to the current sense of "soil". For a semantic parallel, see Norwegian skitt (“dirt, filth, grime, mud”), from Old Norse skítr (“shit”), which is cognate with English shit.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تُرْبَة, تُرَاب
- تُرْبَة (turba)soil or earth
- تُرَاب (turāb)soil or earth
- بُقْعَة (buqʕa)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- قَذَارَة (qaḏāra)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- قَذَارَة (qaḏāra)unclean matter
Bulgarian земя́, по́чва
- земя́ (zemjá)soil or earth
- по́чва (póčva)soil or earth
- петно́ (petnó)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- мръсоти́я (mrăsotíja)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- компрома́т (kompromát)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
- мръсоти́я (mrăsotíja)unclean matter
Catalan terra, bruticia
- terrasoil or earth
- bruticiaunclean matter
Chinese Cantonese 泥
- 泥 (nai⁴)soil or earth
Chinese Mandarin 泥土, 污垢
- 泥土 (nítǔ)soil or earth
- 污垢 (wūgòu)soil or earth
- 灰塵 /灰尘 (huīchén)soil or earth
- 地 (dì)soil or earth
- 土 (tǔ)soil or earth
- 污點 /污点 (wūdiǎn)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- 黑材料 (hēicáiliào)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
- 黑料 (hēiliào)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
- 污垢 (wūgòu)unclean matter
- 穢物 /秽物 (huìwù)unclean matter
- 污 (wū)unclean matter
Czech země, špína
- zeměsoil or earth
- špínastain or spot (on clothes etc)
- špínaunclean matter
Danish snavs
- snavsunclean matter
Dutch aarde, vuil
- aardesoil or earth
- vuilunclean matter
Esperanto malpuraĵo
- malpuraĵounclean matter
Finnish maa, multa
- maasoil or earth
- multasoil or earth
- tomusoil or earth
- likastain or spot (on clothes etc)
- tahrastain or spot (on clothes etc)
- törkypreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- lokapreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- likaunclean matter
- lokaunclean matter
French terre, boue
- terresoil or earth
- bouesoil or earth
- salissurestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- tachestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- kompromatpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- saletéunclean matter
- ordureunclean matter
German Erde, Boden
- Erdesoil or earth
- Bodensoil or earth
- Drecksoil or earth
- Dreckstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- Schmutzstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- Fleckstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- Dreckpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- Schmutzpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- Unratpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- Kompromatpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- Schmutzunclean matter
Greek ακαθαρσία
- ακαθαρσία (akatharsía)unclean matter
Hebrew עָפָר, לִכְלוּךְ
- עָפָר (afár)soil or earth
- לִכְלוּךְ (likhlúkh)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- לִכְלוּךְ (likhlúkh)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
Hindi गंदगी, मैल
- गंदगी (gandgī)soil or earth
- मैलsoil or earth
- मिट्टी (miṭṭī)soil or earth
Hungarian föld, piszok
- földsoil or earth
- piszokstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- piszokunclean matter
Irish salachar, brocamas
- salacharsoil or earth
- brocamassoil or earth
Italian terra, sporco
- terrasoil or earth
- sporcostain or spot (on clothes etc)
- sudiciumeunclean matter
Japanese 泥, 土
- 泥 (doro)soil or earth
- 土 (tsuchi)soil or earth
- 泥土 (deido)soil or earth
- ダート (dāto)soil or earth
- 汚れ (yogore)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- 泥 (doro)unclean matter
- 汚物 (obutsu)unclean matter
Korean 진흙, 더러움
- 진흙 (jinheuk)soil or earth
- 더러움 (deoreoum)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- 오물 (omul)unclean matter
Latin caenum, sordēs
- caenumsoil or earth
- sordēssoil or earth
Latvian netīrumi
- netīrumistain or spot (on clothes etc)
Norwegian Bokmål skitt, jord
- skittsoil or earth
- jordsoil or earth
- skittstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- smussstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- flekkstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- smussunclean matter
Polish ziemia, brud
- ziemiasoil or earth
- brudstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- kompromatpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- brudypreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- brudunclean matter
Portuguese terra, sujeira
- terrasoil or earth
- sujeirastain or spot (on clothes etc)
- sujeirapreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- sujidadeunclean matter
Romanian pământ, mizerie
- pământsoil or earth
- mizeriestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- murdăriestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- murdărieunclean matter
Russian земля́, по́чва
- земля́ (zemljá)soil or earth
- по́чва (póčva)soil or earth
- грязь (grjazʹ)soil or earth
- грязь (grjazʹ)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- пятно́ (pjatnó)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- компрома́т (kompromát)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
- грязь (grjazʹ)unclean matter
Slovak zem, špina
- zemsoil or earth
- špinaunclean matter
Spanish tierra, mugre
- tierrasoil or earth
- mugrestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- suciedadstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- trapos suciospreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- suciedadunclean matter
- mugorunclean matter
- mugreunclean matter
Swahili takataka, takataka
- takatakasoil or earth
- takatakastain or spot (on clothes etc)
- takatakapreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
Swedish jord, smuts
- jordsoil or earth
- smutsstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- lortstain or spot (on clothes etc)
- smutsunclean matter
Tagalog dumi
- dumistain or spot (on clothes etc)
Tamil சறடு
- சறடு (caṟaṭu)soil or earth
Thai ดิน
- ดิน (din)soil or earth
Turkish kum, toprak
- kumsoil or earth
- topraksoil or earth
- lekestain or spot (on clothes etc)
- dedikodupreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- pislikpreviously unknown negative information, kompromat
- kirunclean matter
Ukrainian земля́, бруд
- земля́ (zemljá)soil or earth
- бруд (brud)soil or earth
- пля́ма (pljáma)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
- компрома́т (kompromát)previously unknown negative information, kompromat
- бруд (brud)unclean matter
Urdu مِٹّی, گَنْدَگی
- مِٹّی (miṭṭī)soil or earth
- گَنْدَگی (gandagī)soil or earth
- میل (mel)soil or earth
- چِرْک (cirk)stain or spot (on clothes etc)
Vietnamese bụi, đất
- bụisoil or earth
- đấtsoil or earth
- bùnsoil or earth
Welsh baw
- bawstain or spot (on clothes etc)
Yiddish דרערד, שמוץ
- דרערד (drerd)soil or earth
- שמוץ (shmuts)soil or earth
- דרעק (drek)soil or earth
- ערד (erd)soil or earth
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dirt
Cite this entry
dirt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dirt
“dirt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dirt. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dirt,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dirt.
Source: dirt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.