diddly-squat

Meaning

Noun

• Nothing; nothing whatsoever.

Origin

• The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang suggests that this is a variation of doodly-squat from 1934, probably from American slang doodle + squat, used in the sense of defecating. Doodly-squat was originally the more common form, but diddly-squat overtook it in the early 1980s, and is now an order of magnitude more common in print.