whatchamacallit
UK /ˈwɒtʃəməˌkɔːlɪt/ · US /ˈwʌt͡ʃəməˌkɔlɪt/ noun
Forms whatchamacallits whatchamacallem whatchamacall'em what-you-may-call-it
- noun (colloquial) A metasyntactic term used for any object whose actual name the speaker does not know or cannot remember; a doodad, gizmo, thingamajig, thingy.
Synonyms
thingy doodad doohickey doojigger gimmick gizmo gismo gubbins thingamabob thingumabob thingmabob thingamajig thingumajig thingmajig thingummy whatchamacallum whatsis widget
Etymology
Univerbation and contraction of what you may call it. United States, 20th century (recorded in 1921).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “whatchamacallit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details