drogue
/dɹəʊɡ/noun, verb
drogue is spelled D-R-O-G-U-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 95,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, drogue means “A floating object attached to the end of a harpoon line to slow a whale down and prevent it from diving” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of drogue is drogues.
How many letters and syllables are in drogue?
| Letters | 6: D-R-O-G-U-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 95,993rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 drogue?
Drogue appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 95,993rd 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 drogue?
- UK /dɹəʊɡ/
Drogue 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-drogue.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-drogue.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with drogue?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as drogue (/əʊɡ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: gourde.
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 drogue
- drogues plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- droguing participle, present
- drogued participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does drogue mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A floating object attached to the end of a harpoon line to slow a whale down and prevent it from diving.
- 2
A type of bag pulled behind a boat to stop it from broaching to.
- 3
A conical parachute used as a brake for some kinds of aircraft, or as a means of extracting and deploying a larger parachute, or to slow a rapidly-moving vehicle to a speed where it can safely deploy a larger parachute.
- 4
A conical basket or device used variously as a target for gunnery practice, and as a docking point for aerial refuelling.
- 5
A wind cone.
verb
- 1
To harpoon or spear (a whale) with a weapon that has a drogue attached.
- 2
To use a drogue with.
- 3
To act as a drogue, slowing down and stabilizing a drifting object.
- 4
To transport small loads along the coastline to larger ports, where they can be added to the cargo of larger ships that make longer journeys.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Drogue in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense aeronautics: conical device pulled by aircraft:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | panier-entonnoir (for refuelling) |
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 drogue come from?
Uncertain; probably related to drag in some way.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).