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PlainSpell

bog

/bɔɡ/noun, verb

bog is spelled B-O-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bog means “An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bog is bogs.

How many letters and syllables are in bog?

Letters3: B-O-G
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bog?

Bog appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 bog?

  • US /bɔɡ/
  • US /bɑɡ/
  • /bɑɡ/

Bog has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bog.ogg, En-uk-bog.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_bog.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bog

Also written: bug.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bog?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bog from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɡ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gob, gbo.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bog

  • bogs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bogg
  • bogge
  • boghe
  • bogging participle, present
  • bogged participle, past
  • bogger comparative
  • boggest superlative
  • bug

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

What does bog mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft for walking.

    Near-synonyms: fen, slough, moor

  2. 2

    An acidic, chiefly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), peat-forming wetland. (Contrast an alkaline fen, and swamps and marshes.)

  3. 3

    Boggy ground.

  4. 4

    Confusion, difficulty, or any other thing or place that impedes progress in the manner of such areas.

  5. 5

    AustraliaIrelandUKslangA place to defecate: originally specifically a latrine or outhouse but now used for any toilet.

    I'm on the bog

  6. 6

    AustraliaslangAn act or instance of defecation.

  7. 7

    USA little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp.

  8. 8

    USChicken bog.

  9. 9

    obsoletePuffery, boastfulness.

verb

  1. 1

    To sink or submerge someone or something into bogland.

  2. 2

    To prevent or slow someone or something from making progress.

  3. 3

    To sink and stick in bogland.

  4. 4

    To be prevented or impeded from making progress, to become stuck.

  5. 5

    AustraliaTo defecate, to void one's bowels.

  6. 6

    AustraliaTo cover or spray with excrement.

  7. 7

    UKinformalTo make a mess of something.

  8. 8

    UKslangTo go away.

  9. 9

    To perform excessive cosmetic surgery that results in a bizarre or obviously artificial facial appearance.

  10. 10

    To have excessive cosmetic surgery performed on oneself, often with a poor or conspicuously unnatural result.

  11. 11

    obsoleteTo provoke, to bug.

    A Frencheman: whom he [Manlius Torquatus] slew, being bogged [Latin: provocatus] by hym.

noun

as BOG
  1. 1

    Initialism of boots on the ground.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteBold; boastful; proud.

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

Bog in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtourbière (expanse of marshland), s’enliser (become mired or stuck)
GermanHochmoor (expanse of marshland)
Portugueseturfeira (expanse of marshland), atolar (become mired or stuck)
Spanishcenagal, ciénaga, ciénega, ciénego (expanse of marshland), pegado (become mired or stuck)

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 bog come from?

Inherited from Middle English bog (originally chiefly in Ireland and Scotland), from Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach (“soft, boggy ground”), from Old Irish bog (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *buggos (“soft, tender”) + Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos. The frequent use to form compounds regarding the animals and plants in such areas mimics Irish compositions such as bog-luachair (“bulrush, bogrush”).

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

What to look up after bog