hodgepodge

See also: hodge-podge

English

Alternative forms

• hodge-podge, hotchpotch

Etymology

From Middle English hochepoche, a variation of hochepot, from Old French hochepot, from Middle Dutch hutspot (“beef or mutton cut into small pieces and mixed and boiled together in a pot”), from hotsen, hutsen (“to shake; jog; jolt”) + pot (“pot”), equivalent to hotch +‎ pot. Compare German Low German Hüttspott (“hodgepodge”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒd͡ʒˌpɒd͡ʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑd͡ʒˌpɑd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (US):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Noun

hodgepodge (countable and uncountable, plural hodgepodges)

1. A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

   Synonyms: farrago, melange, mishmash; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge

   His latest sculpture is a hodgepodge of kitchen clutter and scrap glued together.

   • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter XI, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 217:

     MAn's life is but vain, for tis ſubject to pain, / and ſorrow, and ſhort as a buble; / 'tis a hodge podge of buſineſs, and mony and care, / and care, and mony, and trouble.

   • 1989 January, Werner Winter, “On a new claim concerning substratum influence upon Tocharian”, in Central Asiatic Journal‎, volume 33, number 1/2, Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISSN, page 130:

     The entire section is a hodgepodge of ill-absorbed and ill-digested bits of information lifted in a haphazard fashion from the sources used with apparently no other goal in mind than to accumulate a list of items with some degree of resemblance to forms from Manding and Dravidian […]

2. A confused mass of ingredients shaken or mixed together in the same pot.

Derived terms

• hodgepodgery

Translations

collection of miscellaneous things; a jumble

Afrikaans: mengelmoes Bulgarian: сбирщина (bg) f (sbirština), тюрлюгювеч m (tjurljugjuveč) Catalan: poti-poti m Czech: mišmaš (cs) m Dutch: mikmak (nl) m, mengelmoes (nl) Esperanto: miksamaso Finnish: sekamelska (fi) French: salmigondis (fr) m, fatras (fr) m Galician: galdrumada f Georgian: აჯაფსანდალი (ka) (aǯapsandali) German: Sammelsurium (de) n, Mischmasch (de) m, Wust (de) m Hebrew: עִרְבּוּבִיָּה f ('irbuviyá) Hungarian: összevisszaság (hu), zűrzavar (hu), zagyvalék (hu), csiricsáré (hu) (for clothes) Icelandic: hrærigrautur (is) Italian: pot-pourri m, accozzaglia (it) f, zibaldone (it) m, miscuglio (it) m, pasticcio (it) m, pastrocchio (it) m, guazzabuglio (it) m Latin: farrāgō f, miscellānea n pl Macedonian: турлитава f (turlitava) Norwegian: sammensurium n, virvar (no) n Plautdietsch: Mischmausch f Portuguese: miscelânea (pt) f, mistureba f (Brazil), salgalhada f Russian: вся́кая вся́чина (ru) f (vsjákaja vsjáčina), мешани́на (ru) f (mešanína), винегре́т (ru) m (vinegrét) Scots: pran Scottish Gaelic: sop às gach seid Spanish: mezcolanza (es) f (colloquial), batiburrillo (es) m (colloquial), gatuperio m, fárrago (es) m, farrago m (dated), revoltijo (es) m, tótum revolútum m, mescolanza (es) f (colloquial), maremágnum (es) m Swedish: sammelsurium (sv) c, salig blandning Welsh: cybolfa (cy) f Yiddish: מיש־⁠מאַש m (mish-⁠mash)

a confused mass of ingredients shaken or mixed together in the same pot — see also potion

Spanish: bodrio (es) m, brodio m (dated, etymological), comistrajo (es) m, guisote m

Verb

hodgepodge (third-person singular simple present hodgepodges, present participle hodgepodging, simple past and past participle hodgepodged)

1. (ambitransitive) To move or position in an erratic, disorganized manner.