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Is there a single noun in English for 'jerry-rigged?'


Gambiarra in Brazilian Portuguese means a device, solution, or means to an end made impromptu, usually in a sloppy way and lacking care.


I was wondering if there was a single word in English for such a concept.


The closest I found was the two-word verb 'jerry-rig,' but I couldn't find a noun for it.



Answer



Besides Cool's good suggestion of
• slapdash (“Done hastily; haphazard; careless”, but I'd substitute not careful in place of careless)
and suggestion of
• slipshod (“Done poorly or too quickly; slapdash”, but I'd say slipshod work is lower in quality than slapdash work),


and the suggestions in comments of
• hack (“An expedient, temporary solution, meant to be replaced with a more elegant solution at a later date” or “A try, an attempt”),
• kludge (“an improvised device, usually crudely constructed” or “any construction or practice, typically inelegant, designed to solve a problem temporarily or expediently”),
• jury-rig (“To create a makeshift, ad hoc solution from resources at hand” with synonyms MacGyver and hack), and
• MacGyver (“To assemble, or cause to be repaired or completed, an object, device, machine, or project from duct tape as the preferred repair tool, but in its absence, other items, (normally common, ordinary and mundane such as a rubber band or paper clip)...”),


also consider
• lash-up (“A crude improvisation or bodged effort”),
• bodge (“To do a clumsy or inelegant job, usually as a temporary repair; patch up; repair, mend”), and
• stop-gap (“A temporary measure or short-term fix used until something better can be obtained”).


[Note, I edited my former answer into this sort-of-bulleted list, and added interpretive notes on slipshod and slapdash.]


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