Dirt

How to spell dirt

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dirt

What does dirt mean?

1. nounLoose earth, soil, or any unclean matter such as dust or grime.
2. nounScandalous or damaging information about someone, usually shared informally.

Dirt in a sentence

• The children tracked dirt across the kitchen floor.

• The reporter promised to dig up some dirt on the senator.

• She planted the seedlings in rich, dark dirt.

• She always knew the latest office dirt before anyone else.

Where does dirt come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Dirt arrived in English from Old Norse, where the noun was 'drit', meaning excrement or dung. It entered Middle English as 'drit' with that same earthy, unpleasant sense, and for centuries it referred chiefly to filth and muck rather than ordinary soil. The modern spelling is the result of metathesis, a common process in which two sounds swap places: the 'ri' of 'drit' flipped to give 'dirt', much as Old English 'thridda' became 'third' and 'brid' became 'bird'. Over time the meaning softened and broadened, so that today it commonly means plain earth or loose ground as well as grime. The original crude sense survives faintly in expressions about gossip or scandal, where 'dirt' still carries the idea of something soiling or shameful.

How the word is built

• dirt (single Germanic/Norse root; no prefix or suffix)