contango
/kənˈtæŋɡoʊ̯/noun
contango is spelled C-O-N-T-A-N-G-O: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 146,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, contango means “The situation in a futures market where prices for future delivery are higher than prices for immediate (or nearer) delivery, indicating the…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of contango is contangos or contangoes.
How many letters and syllables are in contango?
| Letters | 8: C-O-N-T-A-N-G-O |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 23 million words; the 146,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 contango?
Contango appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 146,811th 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 contango?
- /kənˈtæŋɡoʊ̯/
- /kɒn-/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-contango.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of contango
- contangos plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- contangoes plural
- contangoing participle, present
- contangoed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does contango mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The situation in a futures market where prices for future delivery are higher than prices for immediate (or nearer) delivery, indicating the expectation that the price of the underlying asset will go up.
- 2
The amount by which prices for future delivery are higher than prices for near delivery.
- 3
obsoleteFee paid by a buyer to the seller on settlement day when the buyer wishes to defer settlement until the next settlement day.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo charge (a buyer) a fee to defer settlement until the next settlement day.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does contango come from?
The term originated in early-19th-century England, and is believed to be a corruption of continuation, continue or contingent. In the past on the London Stock Exchange, contango was a fee paid by a buyer to a seller when the buyer wished to defer settlement of the trade they had agreed. The charge was based on the interest forgone by the seller not being paid.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).