Word.ws English Dictionary

420

420 noun: a particular type of monohull dinghy with two sails, designed for two people.

Noun (1)

420 (plural 420s)

  1. A particular type of monohull dinghy with two sails, designed for two people.

Noun (2)

420 (uncountable)

  1. (Canada, US, especially, slang) Cannabis.
    • Sunday is 420 day, when lovers of marijuana get together to celebrate their fondness for weed.2025 April 20, Sandee LaMotte, “Marijuana hospital visits linked to dementia diagnosis within 5 years, study finds”, in CNN
  2. (Canada, US, especially, slang, usually) Pertaining to cannabis, its consumption, or cannabis culture.
    • Late nights at the recording studio were always 420 friendly.
  3. (Canada, US, especially, slang) April 20 (abbreviated 4/20 in the US), as an occasion to celebrate cannabis culture.

Noun (3)

420 (plural 420s)

  1. (Canada, South-Asia, US, especially, slang) fraudster, cheater, forger; a smooth operator

Forms of 420

plural420s
alternative form4:20
alternative form4/20
alternative formfour-twenty
alternative formfour twenty

Origin of 420

So named because it is 420 centimetres long.

Likely influenced by the time (4:20 pm) a particular group would meet in search of marijuana, circa 1971; subsequently spread as a cipher through the San Francisco Bay area and adopted among Grateful Dead fans.

From section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (and its corresponding versions in modern Pakistan and Bangladesh), which criminalizes cheating.

Questions about 420

What does 420 mean?
420 means a particular type of monohull dinghy with two sails, designed for two people.
What part of speech is 420?
420 is a noun.
What is the plural of 420?
The plural of 420 is 420s.

Words near 420 in the dictionary

  1. 419s
  2. 41st
  3. 42
  4. 42-gon
  5. 42-gons
  6. 420
  7. 420s
  8. 42nd
  9. 437737
  10. 43rd
  11. 440

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 420 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-420.ogg, En-uk-420.ogg.

Cite this entry: “420.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/420. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.