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Definition of dinah

dinah

/ˈdaɪ.nə/
Di · nah
Plural:dinahs
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dinah Lexical Profile

• noun

1

A female given name of Hebrew origin; in the Hebrew Bible, the daughter of Jacob and Leah.

Example

"They decided to name their daughter Dinah after her great-grandmother."

2

North American Old-fashioned logging and mining slang for dynamite or nitroglycerin.

Example

"The blasting crew packed the sticks of dinah carefully into the drilled rock face."

Synonyms
View all synonyms for dinah

Word Nuance & Usage

When used as a common noun in 19th- and early 20th-century American English to refer to a Black woman or domestic servant, the term is archaic and offensive.

• Rhymes for dinah

• Nearby Words

dimwittedly
dimwittedness
din
dinah
dinar
dinder
dine

Word Origin & Etymology

From the Hebrew given name Dinah (meaning 'judged' or 'vindicated'), borne in the Book of Genesis by the daughter of Jacob and Leah; the lowercased slang sense meaning nitroglycerin arose as a phonetic alteration of 'dynamite'.

Cite this Entry

Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Dinah. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/dinah
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