crikey

English

Alternative forms

crickey, cricky (both less common)

Etymology

Euphemistic substitute for Christ. Compare criminy, cripes, crivvens. Attested from the 19th century.

Pronunciation

(Australia) IPA^(key): /kɹɑɪki/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪki

Interjection

crikey

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) An exclamation of astonishment.
Crikey, mate, that ain't a knife, this is a knife!

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:wow

Translations

exclamation of astonishment

Afrikaans: ettig, aitsa (af)
Finnish: herranen aika
French: parbleu (fr), palsambleu (fr), morbleu (fr), crique (fr)
German: hoppla (de), parbleu
Italian: cribbio (it), perbacco (it), dannazione (it), osteria (it), alla faccia
Maori: ēhe
Portuguese: credo! (pt) m, bolas! (pt)
Russian: бо́же мой (ru) m (bóže moj), на́до же (ru) n (nádo že), о бо́же n (o bóže)
Spanish: caray (es)

References

“crikey, int.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, November 2010.

Anagrams

Rickey, rickey, yicker

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