# elongate

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ɪˈlɒŋ.ɡeɪt/ · frequency rank #37,903

## Definitions
1. Elongated, extended, lengthened; (especially biology) having a long and slender form.

## Etymology
From Late Middle English elongat, elongate (“kept away; different or remote in nature”, adjective), borrowed from Late Latin ēlongātus (“having been stretched out, elongated; prolonged, protracted; having been kept aloof, removed”) + Middle English -at (suffix forming participles). Ēlongātus is the perfect passive participle of ēlongō (“to prolong, protract; to keep aloof, remove; to depart, withdraw”), from Latin ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + longus (“extended, long, prolonged; far”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”, adjective)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of eloign.
Cognates
* French éloigner

## Easily confused with
- **elongated** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/elongate-vs-elongated)

## Common misspellings (11)
`ellongate`, `elnogate`, `elognate`, `elonagte`, `elongaet`, `elongatte`, `elonggate`, `elongtae`, `elonngate`, `eolngate`, `leongate`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/elongate