forego
/fɔɹˈɡoʊ/verb
forego is spelled F-O-R-E-G-O: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “forego vs forgo” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, forego means “To precede, to go before” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in forego?
| Letters | 6: F-O-R-E-G-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 35,320th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is forego?
Forego appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th 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 forego?
- US /fɔɹˈɡoʊ/
- UK /fɔːˈɡəʊ/
Forego has 2 syllables (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-forego.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with forego
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: forgo (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: forgo.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with forego?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as forego from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):
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 forego
- foregoes present, singular, he/she/it
- foregoing participle, present
- forewent past
- foregone participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does forego mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To precede, to go before.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does forego come from?
From Middle English forgan, from Old English foregān, equivalent to fore- + go.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).