pavement special

Syllables: pave·ment spe·cial/ˌpeɪvm(ə)nt ˈspɛʃl̩/US/ˌpeɪvm(ə)nt ˈspɛʃ(ə)l/

pavement special noun: a dog (especially a stray dog) of miscellaneous ancestry; a mongrel, a mutt.

Image: Marek Ślusarczyk ( Tupungato ) Photo portfolio, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pavement special (plural pavement specials)

(South Africa) A dog (especially a stray dog) of miscellaneous ancestry; a mongrel, a mutt.
- [E]very mangy, threadbare, snarling cur pariah pavement-special dog that ever got kicked in the ribs appears from the shadows of twisted dreams and with flashing fangs bears down on the injured party to rip her apart in a streak of blood and matted fur.1996 (date written), Brett Bailey, “Notes from the Wilderness”, in The Plays of Miracle & Wonder: Bewitching Visions and Primal High-jinx from the South African Stage, Cape Town, South Africa: Double...
- As I move around the world studying working dogs, there always seems to be another population of dogs hanging around. They are part of the background. When I ask about these dogs, they are described to me as the local mutts, mongrels, pavement specials, crossbreeds.2001, Raymond Coppinger, Lorna Coppinger, “Village Dogs”, in Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 69
Synonyms:

Heinz 57

Examples of pavement special in a sentence

Two smaller pavement specials ranged alongside, and made up for size by their barking.2011, Eckart Schumann, chapter 3, in Patterns of Change, New York, N.Y.: Eloquent Books, AEG Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 29:
Gypsy was a wonderful mutt, a ‘pavement special’ as we say, who had a heart as big as Africa.2012 July, Lawrence Anthony, with Graham Spence, chapter 3, in The Last Rhinos: The Powerful Story of One Man’s Battle to Save a Species...
In Park Rynie, down the south coast in Kwa Zulu Natal, where I had grown up, we only saw and heard of people keeping Alsatians, Rottweilers, Labradors, poodles, and the common pavement specials.2013 March 6, Resh Ramlakan, Fur Kids: Angels on Earth, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 11:

Synonyms of pavement special

Heinz 57

Forms of pavement special

plural	pavement specials

Origin of pavement special

From pavement + special (“thing which is distinctive or out of the ordinary”, noun), referring to the fact that stray dogs are often found roaming around on pavements.

Words that rhyme with pavement special

Questions about pavement special

What does pavement special mean?: Pavement special means a dog (especially a stray dog) of miscellaneous ancestry; a mongrel, a mutt.
How do you use pavement special in a sentence?: Two smaller pavement specials ranged alongside, and made up for size by their barking.
What part of speech is pavement special?: Pavement special is a noun.
How do you pronounce pavement special?: Pavement special is pronounced /ˌpeɪvm(ə)nt ˈspɛʃl̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of pavement special?: The plural of pavement special is pavement specials.

Words near pavement special in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pavement special (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pavement special.wav.

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