elegy
el·e·gy/ˈɛlɪd͡ʒi/noun
elegy is spelled E-L-E-G-Y: 5 letters and 3 syllables (el·e·gy). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “elegy vs eulogy” about 1,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, elegy means “A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of elegy is elegies.
How many letters and syllables are in elegy?
| Letters | 5: E-L-E-G-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: el·e·gy |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is elegy?
Elegy appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th 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 elegy?
- US /ˈɛlɪd͡ʒi/
Elegy has 3 syllables, split el·e·gy in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-elegy.ogg, En-ca-elegy.opus, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with elegy
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of elegy
- elegies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does elegy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation.
funeral elegy
- 2
A composition of mournful character.
- 3
A classical poem written in elegiac meter
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Elegy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense mournful or plaintive poem or song:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | élégie |
| German | Elegie |
| Portuguese | elegia |
| Spanish | elegía, endecha, epicedio, epiceyo, nenia |
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 elegy come from?
From Middle French elegie, from Latin elegīa, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐλεγείᾱ (elegeíā), ellipsis of ἐλεγείᾱ ᾠδή (elegeíā ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).