agon

/ˈæ.ɡəʊn/

//ˈæ.ɡəʊn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"agon" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“agon” is uncommon English (frequency #82,026 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,026
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.

Corpus desk

Index EN-agon · agon · English

agon · rank #82,026 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,026
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH adducts

Nearest frequency peer: adducts (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “agon”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “agon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for agon
PropertyValue
Headwordagon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈæ.ɡəʊn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#82,026
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “agon” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).agonfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “adducts” (#82,024), “agronomic” (#82,028), “Aharon” (#82,029). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “agon” is #82,026. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

agon is uncommon English at frequency #82,026 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæ.ɡəʊn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for agon, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin agōn, from Ancient Greek ἀγών (agṓn, “contest”). The correct English form is agon, spelled A-G-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.
  2. 2
    An intellectual conflict or apparent competition of ideas.
  3. 3
    A contest in ancient Greece, as in athletics or music, in which prizes were awarded.
  4. 4
    A two-player board game played on a hexagonally-tiled board, popular in Victorian times.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how agon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It was not ecological pressure or shortages of protein, as anthropologist Marvin Harris has claimed; institutionalized violence, as opposed to the stylized agons of hunters over grievances, was the shadow side of the Neolithic Revolution.
  2. One way of reading Beowulf is to think of it as three agons in the hero's life[.]

Etymology

From Latin agōn, from Ancient Greek ἀγών (agṓn, “contest”).

This word in other languages

Agon(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "agon"?
"agon" is spelled A-G-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈæ.ɡəʊn/.
What does "agon" mean?
As a noun, "agon" means: A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.
How do you pronounce "agon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "agon" is /ˈæ.ɡəʊn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "agon"?
From Latin agōn, from Ancient Greek ἀγών (agṓn, “contest”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "agon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

anta#82,044baze#82,083boor#82,120toty#81,914

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list