dudgeon

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 7, 2026 is: dudgeon • \DUJ-un\ • noun Dudgeon is typically used in the phrase “in high dudgeon” to describe someone who is angry and offended by something they perceive to be unfair or wrong. // The customer stormed out of the store in high dudgeon after the manager refused to give them a refund for their purchase. See the entry > Examples: “She was in high dudgeon because her expensive lunch was punctuated by noise from a child ‘a real menace’ whose parents, she said, appeared oblivious to the noise while staff … played with and entertained the tot. If the parents could afford the bill for a place like that, they could afford a babysitter, she snipped.” — Rachel Moore, The Eastern Daily Press (Norwich, England), 6 Feb. 2026 Did you know? Dudgeon is today most often used in the phrase “in high dudgeon” to describe someone in a fit of pique , or more colloquially, in a snit : they are angry and offended because of something they perceive as unfair or wrong. The word has been a part of the English language since at least the late 1500s, but its origins are a mystery. Conjectures connecting dudgeon to a Welsh word, dygen , meaning “malice,” have no basis. Also, there does not appear to be any connection to an even older dudgeon —a term once used for a dagger or a kind of wood out of which dagger handles were made.

You can listen to dudgeon online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

dudgeon is an episode from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day by Merriam-Webster.

This episode is 00:01:50 long.

This episode was published on May 7, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.