Meaning & use
diddums
Last updated
Meaning
interjectioninformalBritish
Used to comfort a child who is crying or upset, or to tease someone lightly about a small problem.
Grammar: Stands alone as a complete remark; you do not add an object after it.
Patterns
- say diddums to someone
Oh, diddums! Did you fall over? Let me see your knee.
He lost his pen and kept complaining, so she said, 'Diddums!' and rolled her eyes.
The toddler was crying, and her grandmother picked her up, saying, 'Diddums, diddums, it's all right.'
Common combinations
- say diddums
- She said diddums in a soft voice to calm the baby.
- oh, diddums
- Oh, diddums, you dropped your ice cream!
- diddums, diddums
- Diddums, diddums, don't cry — Mummy's here.
- poor little diddums
- He scraped his elbow and his sister called him 'poor little diddums'.
Synonyms and how they differ
- there, there
- Used to comfort someone, but it is gentler and not teasing.
- poor thing
- Shows sympathy for someone's situation, but can be used for adults too and is not baby talk.
- aw
- A sympathetic sound, but it does not have the mocking edge that diddums can have.
Commonly confused: diddums or diddly?
diddums vs diddly
Diddly means 'anything at all' in phrases like 'not a diddly', while diddums is a comfort word.
Practice
Which situation best fits the word 'diddums'?
Choose one answer.
'Diddums' is used to comfort a child (or to tease someone playfully), so a parent comforting a crying child fits. The other situations are too formal or serious for this word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “diddums”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.