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badger

Bad·ger/ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/noun, verb

badger is spelled B-A-D-G-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (Bad·ger). It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, badger means “Any member of species of the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Mellivora or Taxidea, of mammals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of badger is badgers.

How many letters and syllables are in badger?

Letters6: B-A-D-G-E-R
Syllables2: Bad·ger
In writing3.0 times per million words; the 15,368th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is badger?

Badger appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce badger?

  • UK /ˈbæd͡ʒə/
  • US /ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/

Badger has 2 syllables, split Bad·ger in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-badger.ogg, En-au-badger.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of badger

  • badgers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • badgering participle, present
  • badgered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does badger mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Any member of species of the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Mellivora or Taxidea, of mammals.

  2. 2

    A native or resident of the American state, Wisconsin.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA brush made of badger hair.

  4. 4

    obsoleteA gang of robbers who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.

  5. 5

    slangA person who is very fond of cricket.

  6. 6

    obsoleteAn itinerant licensed dealer in commodities used for food; a hawker or huckster; especially one who bought grain in one place and sold it in another.

verb

  1. 1

    To pester; to annoy persistently; to press.

    He kept badgering her about her bad habits.

noun

as Badger
  1. 1

    A native or resident of the American state of Wisconsin.

  2. 2

    A child member of the St John Ambulance medical volunteering organisation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Badger in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchblaireau (a kind of mammal), taper sur le système, casser les couilles, emmerder, les briser, beurrer la raie (pester)
GermanDachs (a kind of mammal), belästigen, plagen, piesacken (pester)
Portuguesetexugo (a kind of mammal)
Spanishtejón, tasugo, tajugo, melandro (a kind of mammal), fastidiar, molestar (pester)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does badger come from?

From Middle English bageard (“marked by a badge”), from bage (“badge”), referring to the animal's badge-like white blaze, equivalent to badge + -ard. Displaced earlier brock, from Old English brocc.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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