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PlainSpell

fig

/fɪɡ/noun, verb

fig is spelled F-I-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fig means “The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fig is figs or figs..

How many letters and syllables are in fig?

Letters3: F-I-G
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 fig?

Fig appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th 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 fig?

  • /fɪɡ/

Fig 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: En-us-fig.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with fig?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as fig.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gif.

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 fig

  • figs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • figging participle, present
  • figged participle, past
  • fig.
  • figs. plural

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

What does fig mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.

  2. 2

    A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.

  3. 3

    The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.

  4. 4

    A Lady Finger banana, also known as the "fig banana", (cultivar of Musa acuminata)

  5. 5

    datedA raisin (dried grape).

    figgy duff - boiled pudding with raisins

  6. 6

    A small piece of tobacco.

  7. 7

    A fico, a contemptuous gesture.

  8. 8

    The piece of ginger root used in figging.

  9. 9

    Abbreviation of figure (“diagram or illustration”).

  10. 10

    colloquialdatedA person's figure; dress or appearance.

verb

  1. 1

    To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo insult with a fico, a contemptuous gesture.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.

  4. 4

    datedTo develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations.

  5. 5

    Abbreviation of figure (“to calculate; to think; to come to understand”).

  6. 6

    colloquialdatedTo dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

  7. 7

    rareTo insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of (a horse): to perform figging upon; to feague, to feak.

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

Fig in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfiguier (tree or shrub), figue (fruit)
GermanFeigenbaum (tree or shrub), Feige (fruit), Abb. (for Abbildung), Fig. (for Figur) (abbreviation of figure), fig. (for figurativ, figürlich) (figurative)
Portuguesefigueira (tree or shrub), figo (fruit)
Spanishhiguera (tree or shrub), higo, breva, figo (fruit)

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 fig come from?

From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English fīc, see fike), borrowed from Anglo-Norman figue, borrowed from Old French figue, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *fīca (“fig”), from Latin fīcus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician 𐤐𐤂 (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ (fajj), فِجّ (fijj)).

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

What to look up after fig