navvy

Questions about navvy

What does navvy mean?

navvy means "a laborer who is obliged to do menial work".

How many syllables are in navvy?

navvy has 2 syllables and divides as nav-vy under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for navvy?

Close synonyms include drudge, peon, galley slave. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is navvy a common word?

navvy is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.