overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gash.

A deep cut.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡæʃ/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡaʃ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ɡɛʃ/New-Zealand
  1. A deep cut.

    countable · uncountable
    Unwittingly I slashed a gushing gash in my hand with a switchblade.
  2. A vulva.

    countable · slang · uncountable · vulgar
  3. A woman.

    derogatory · offensive · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Alteration of older garsh, from Middle English garsen, from Old French garser, jarsier (Modern French gercer), from Vulgar Latin *charaxāre, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “engraver”).

verb/ɡæʃ/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡaʃ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ɡɛʃ/New-Zealand
  1. To make a deep, long cut; to slash.

    My leg got gashed.
Where this word comes from

Alteration of older garsh, from Middle English garsen, from Old French garser, jarsier (Modern French gercer), from Vulgar Latin *charaxāre, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “engraver”).

noun/ɡæʃ/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡaʃ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ɡɛʃ/New-Zealand
  1. Rubbish, particularly on board a ship or aircraft.

    UK · countable · slang · uncountable
  2. Nonsense.

    UK · countable · slang · uncountable · vulgar
  3. Something low quality.

    UK · countable · slang · uncountable · vulgar
  4. Unused film or sound during film editing.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  5. Poor-quality beer, usually watered down.

    countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From French gâcher (“to waste, to mess up”) or gâchis (“waste, a mess”), likely borrowed into English by ships' crews in the 19th century. Became increasingly vulgar by association with Etymology 1.

adj/ɡæʃ/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡaʃ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ɡɛʃ/New-Zealand
  1. Of poor quality; makeshift; improvised; temporary; substituted.

    UK · not-comparable · slang · vulgar
  2. Spare, extra.

    UK · dated · not-comparable · slang
Where this word comes from

From French gâcher (“to waste, to mess up”) or gâchis (“waste, a mess”), likely borrowed into English by ships' crews in the 19th century. Became increasingly vulgar by association with Etymology 1.

adj/ɡæʃ/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡaʃ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ɡɛʃ/New-Zealand
  1. ghastly; hideous

    Scotland · UK · dialectal
Where this word comes from

From ghastful, by association with gash.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

gash has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

gash studiogash workshello, gash

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.