fledge
/flɛd͡ʒ/verb
fledge is spelled F-L-E-D-G-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, fledge means “To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fledge?
| Letters | 6: F-L-E-D-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 97,057th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is fledge?
Fledge appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 97,057th 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 fledge?
- /flɛd͡ʒ/
Fledge 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-fledge.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fledge
- fledges present, singular, he/she/it
- fledging participle, present
- fledged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fledge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight.
- 2
To grow, cover or be covered with feathers.
- 3
To decorate with feathers.
- 4
To complete the last moult and become a winged adult insect.
adjective
- 1
archaicFeathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does fledge come from?
From Middle English flegge, fligge, flygge, from Old English *flyċġe (“able to fly, fledged”) (attested in *unflyċġe, unfligge (“unfledged”)), from Proto-West Germanic *flugi, from Proto-Germanic *flugjaz (“able to fly, fledged”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to run, flow, be swift, flee, fly”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).