Skip to content
SlangWordsOnline

fair dinkum

adjective, interjectionInformal

A Australian English slang term. Browse all Australian slang.

What it means

  1. Genuine, true, the real thing. A fair dinkum offer is a sincere one.

  2. As a question: really? Seriously?

In use

  • Is that fair dinkum or are you having me on?

  • He's a fair dinkum bloke, no side to him.

Where it comes from

Dinkum probably comes from a Lincolnshire dialect word for a fair share of work. The phrase is old enough and quoted often enough that Australians now use it slightly self-consciously — sincerely in politics, half-ironically elsewhere.

First attested: 1890s

Other forms

Similar terms:
deadset, genuine