whodunit
noun
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In 1930, Donald Gordon, a book reviewer for News of Books, needed to come up with something to say about a rather unremarkable mystery novel called Half-Mast Murder. "A satisfactory whodunit," he wrote. The relatively new term (introduced only a year earlier) played fast and loose with spelling and grammar, but whodunit caught on anyway. Other writers tried respelling it who-done-it, and one even insisted on using whodidit, but those sanitized versions lacked the punch of the original and fell by the wayside. Whodunit became so popular that by 1939 at least one language pundit had declared it "already heavily overworked" and predicted it would "soon be dumped into the taboo bin." History has proven that prophecy false, and whodunit is still going strong.
Examples of whodunit in a Sentence
Liam Quinn, People.com, 9 Aug. 2025
This novel—a whodunit, a coming-of-age, a New York novel—heralds the arrival of a rarefied talent.
—Gabrielle Bellot, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
The eight-episode whodunit, from Shonda Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland, is set in the halls of the White House, where the death of one of its East Wing employees during a state dinner party triggers panic.
—Daron James, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2025
Drop a comment with your thoughts on the Netflix whodunit below.
—Andy Swift, TVLine, 2 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Whodunit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whodunit. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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whodunit
noun
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