paradiddle
/ˈpæɹəˌdɪdəl/
paradiddle noun: a percussive exercise (one of 26 drum rudiments per the National Association of Rudimental Drummers or one of 40 per the Percussive Arts Society) which involves playing four even strokes in the order ‘right left right right’ or ‘left right left left.’.
Noun
paradiddle (plural paradiddles)
- A percussive exercise (one of 26 drum rudiments per the National Association of Rudimental Drummers or one of 40 per the Percussive Arts Society) which involves playing four even strokes in the order ‘right left right right’ or ‘left right left left.’
- I mean, as a drummer, you're sitting at a practice pad for hours on end, doing paradiddles and all the exercises you learn for your craft.2023 December 8, The Big Issue, Melbourne, page 33, column 2
Verb
paradiddle (third-person singular simple present paradiddles, present participle paradiddling, simple past and past participle paradiddled)
- To produce percussive sounds of this kind.
Forms of paradiddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | paradiddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | paradiddles |
| present participle | paradiddling |
| past participle | paradiddled |
| past | paradiddled |
Origin of paradiddle
Imitative. May be related to [Attic] Greek, παραδίδωμι (paradídōmi) 1) to give into the hands (of another) 2) to give over into (one's) power or use 2a) to deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage
Words formed from paradiddle
Phrases with paradiddle
Words that rhyme with paradiddle
Questions about paradiddle
- What does paradiddle mean?
- Paradiddle means a percussive exercise (one of 26 drum rudiments per the National Association of Rudimental Drummers or one of 40 per the Percussive Arts Society) which involves playing four even strokes in the order ‘right left right right’ or ‘left right left left.’.
- What part of speech is paradiddle?
- Paradiddle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce paradiddle?
- Paradiddle is pronounced /ˈpæɹəˌdɪdəl/.
- What is the plural of paradiddle?
- The plural of paradiddle is paradiddles.
Words near paradiddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paradiddle (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-us-paradiddle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “paradiddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paradiddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.