c. 1800
Still common
Definition
A traditional Australian Aboriginal wooden fighting or hunting club; also used in rural slang as a verb meaning to strike with a club.
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Where "Waddy" Comes From
"Waddy" comes from Dharug (Darug) wadi, meaning a stick or weapon; Dharug is the language of the Sydney region. Dictionary.com dates its first record in English to 1795–1805, and Wiktionary's earliest cited use is from 1839. It came to mean a heavy wooden club, and it was also used as a verb: to "waddy" someone was to attack them with one.
Sources: waddy (Wiktionary) · waddy (Dictionary.com) · Waddy (Wikipedia)
Example Sentence
“The station hands carried a stout wooden waddy while checking the boundary fences.”
How Aussies Actually Use It
Commonly encountered in Australian colonial literature, folklore, and historical ballads.
A close synonym and companion term to the nulla-nulla.
📚 Sources & Further Reading
- Borrowings from Aboriginal Languages — Australian National Dictionary Centre, ANU
- List of English words of Australian Aboriginal origin — Wikipedia
Part of our Aboriginal Loanwords collection →
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