Meanings
verbplay hooky (third-person singular simple present plays hooky, present participle playing hooky, simple past and past participle played hooky)
present singular third person plays hooky · participle present playing hooky · participle past played hooky · past played hooky · alternative play hookey · alternative play hookie
- USidiomaticTo play truant; to avoid (informally: skip) school, work, or other duties (stay away from these without permission nor an excuse); to skive or to bunk off (UK);
Plenty of people played hooky from work to go see the movie on opening day.
1 more example
Next time you play hooky, you might want to take off your school uniform.
2007 September 28, John O'Bryan, “The Headband” (5:38 from the start), in Joaquim Dos Santos, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 3 (Book Three: Fire), episode 2Synonyms: play truant
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo play truant; to avoid (informally: skip) school, work, or other duties (stay away from these without permission nor an excuse); to skive or to bunk off (UK);
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
See hooky for its origin; the construction of the phrase is in the same vein as play truant.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan fer campana, fer pila (Lleida)
- fer campanato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- fer pila (Lleida)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- fer fuginato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Chinese Mandarin 逃學 /逃学, 曠課 /旷课
- 逃學 /逃学 (táoxué)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- 曠課 /旷课 (kuàngkè)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- 逃課 /逃课 (táokè)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Czech chodit za školu
- chodit za školuto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Danish pjække, skulke
- pjækketo stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- skulketo stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Dutch spijbelen
- spijbelento stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Finnish lintsata
- lintsatato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
French faire l'école buissonnière, faire le mur
- faire l'école buissonnièreto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- faire le murto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
German schwänzen, blaumachen
- schwänzento stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- blaumachento stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Greek κάνω κοπάνα
- κάνω κοπάνα (káno kopána)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Hebrew הִתְפַּרְפֵּר
- הִתְפַּרְפֵּר (hitparpér)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Icelandic skrópa
- skrópato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Indonesian membolos
- membolosto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Italian bigiare, marinare la scuola
- bigiareto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- marinare la scuolato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Korean 땡땡이치다
- 땡땡이치다 (ttaengttaeng'ichida)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Norwegian skulke
- skulketo stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Persian جیم زدن
- جیم زدن (jim zadan)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Polish wagarować
- wagarowaćto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Portuguese matar aula, cabular aula
- matar aulato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- cabular aulato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- cabularto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- gazetearto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- gazearto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Romanian chiuli, trage chiulul
- chiulito stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- trage chiululto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Russian прогу́ливать, прогуля́ть
- прогу́ливать (progúlivatʹ)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- прогуля́ть (proguljátʹ)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Swedish skolka
- skolkato stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Thai โดด
- โดด (dòot)to stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Turkish asmak, kaçmak
- asmakto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- kaçmakto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- kaytarmakto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
- kırmakto stay away from school, work, etc. without suitable permission or excuse
Cite this entry
APA
play hooky. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20hooky
MLA
“play hooky.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20hooky. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “play hooky,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20hooky.
Source: play hooky on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.