Skip to main content
PlainSpell

fag

/fæɡ/noun, verb

fag is spelled F-A-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fag means “In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fag is fags.

How many letters and syllables are in fag?

Letters3: F-A-G
Syllables1
In writing2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fag?

Fag appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th 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 fag?

  • US /fæɡ/
  • British /faɡ/
  • Australia /fæːɡ/

Fag has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: EN-AU_ck1_fag.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with fag?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fag from its last stressed vowel (/æɡ/):

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 fag

  • fags plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • fagging participle, present
  • fagged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fag mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    USIn textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.

  2. 2

    AustraliaIrelandUKcolloquialA cigarette.

  3. 3

    IrelandUKcolloquialobsoleteThe worst part or end of a thing.

  4. 4

    IrelandUKarchaiccolloquialA chore: an arduous and tiresome task.

  5. 5

    IrelandUKcolloquialA younger student acting as a servant for senior students (potentially in a sexual or abusive way).

  6. 6

    CanadaUSoffensivevulgarA homosexual man.

    [1921 John Lind, The Female Impersonators (Historical Documentation of American Slang v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan E. Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994) page 716. Androgynes known as “fairies,” “fags,” or “brownies.”]

  7. 7

    CanadaUSoffensivevulgara homosexual person of any gender.

  8. 8

    CanadaUSoffensivevulgara queer person in general.

  9. 9

    derogatoryoffensiveslangvulgarAn effeminate or unusual homosexual man.

  10. 10

    USderogatoryoffensivevulgarAn annoying or contemptible person.

    Why did you do that, you fag?

verb

  1. 1

    archaiccolloquialTo make exhausted, tired out.

  2. 2

    archaiccolloquialTo droop; to tire.

    a. 1829, G. Mackenzie, Lives, quoted in 1829, "Fag", entry in The London Encyclopaedia: Or, Universal Dictionary, Volume 9, page 12, Creighton with-held his force 'till the Italian began to fag, and then brought him to the ground.

  3. 3

    IrelandUKcolloquial(of a younger student) To act as a servant for senior students in many British boarding schools. To be the servant in fagging.

  4. 4

    IrelandUKcolloquialTo have (a younger student) act as a servant in this way, in fagging.

  5. 5

    IrelandUKarchaicTo work hard, especially on menial chores.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fag in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpédé, pédale, tapette, fif (homosexual man)
GermanSchwuchtel, Schwuler, warmer Bruder, Homo, Tunte (homosexual man), -schwuchtel (suffix)
Portuguesepaneleiro, viado, boiola, bicha (homosexual man)
Spanishputo, joto, maricón, marico, pato, bujarra (homosexual man)

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 fag come from?

Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from Middle English fagge (“flap”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after fag