"litterbug" meaning in English

See litterbug in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈlɪtɚˌbʌɡ/ [US] Forms: litterbugs [plural], litter bug [alternative], litter-bug [alternative]
Etymology: From litter + bug. Coined in 1947 by New York copywriter Paul B. Gioni for The American Ad Council Etymology templates: {{compound|en|litter|bug}} litter + bug Head templates: {{en-noun}} litterbug (plural litterbugs)
  1. (informal) A person who tends to drop litter and not clean it up. Tags: informal Categories (topical): People Synonyms: litter lout Translations (person who drops litter): roskaaja (Finnish), Schmutzfink [masculine] (German), kutu sampah (Malay)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "litter",
        "3": "bug"
      },
      "expansion": "litter + bug",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From litter + bug. Coined in 1947 by New York copywriter Paul B. Gioni for The American Ad Council",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "litterbugs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "litter bug",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "litter-bug",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "litterbug (plural litterbugs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
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        },
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        },
        {
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Malay translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who tends to drop litter and not clean it up."
      ],
      "id": "en-litterbug-en-noun-QKKIJE9Q",
      "links": [
        [
          "litter",
          "litter"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A person who tends to drop litter and not clean it up."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "litter lout"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person who drops litter",
          "word": "roskaaja"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "person who drops litter",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Schmutzfink"
        },
        {
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "person who drops litter",
          "word": "kutu sampah"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlɪtɚˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "litterbug"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "litter",
        "3": "bug"
      },
      "expansion": "litter + bug",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From litter + bug. Coined in 1947 by New York copywriter Paul B. Gioni for The American Ad Council",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "litterbugs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "litter bug",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "litter-bug",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "litterbug (plural litterbugs)",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Malay translations",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who tends to drop litter and not clean it up."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "litter",
          "litter"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A person who tends to drop litter and not clean it up."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlɪtɚˌbʌɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "litter lout"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person who drops litter",
      "word": "roskaaja"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "person who drops litter",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Schmutzfink"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "person who drops litter",
      "word": "kutu sampah"
    }
  ],
  "word": "litterbug"
}

Download raw JSONL data for litterbug meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.