demurrage
noun
demurrage is spelled D-E-M-U-R-R-A-G-E: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 173,967th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, demurrage means “the detention of a ship or other freight vehicle, during delayed loading or unloading” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of demurrage is demurrages.
How many letters and syllables are in demurrage?
| Letters | 9: D-E-M-U-R-R-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 32 million words; the 173,967th 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 demurrage?
Demurrage appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 173,967th 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 demurrage?
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-TurtleMedicine-demurrage.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of demurrage
- demurrages plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does demurrage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
the detention of a ship or other freight vehicle, during delayed loading or unloading
- 2
compensation paid for such detention
- 3
a charge made for exchanging currency for bullion
- 4
the cost associated with owning or holding currency over a given period
- 5
a type of currency which requires paying a fee to store money; a type of currency that discourages using money as a store of value
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Demurrage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense detention of a freight vehicle during delayed loading or unloading:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | surestarie |
| German | Demurrage |
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 demurrage come from?
1640s, from Old French demorage, from demorer (English demur), from Latin dēmorārī (“to tarry”). By surface analysis, demur (“delay”) + -age, with doubled ‘r’ to clarify pronunciation and avoid ambiguity with demure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).