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PlainSpell

fringe

/fɹɪnd͡ʒ/noun, adjective, verb

fringe is spelled F-R-I-N-G-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fringe means “A decorative border” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fringe is fringes.

How many letters and syllables are in fringe?

Letters6: F-R-I-N-G-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing7.2 times per million words; the 8,784th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 fringe?

Fringe appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th 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 fringe?

  • US /fɹɪnd͡ʒ/

Fringe 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-fringe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with fringe?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fringe from its last stressed vowel (/ɪndʒ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: finger.

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 fringe

  • fringes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more fringe comparative
  • fringer comparative
  • most fringe superlative
  • fringest superlative
  • fringing participle, present
  • fringed participle, past

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

What does fringe mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A decorative border.

    the fringe of a picture

  2. 2

    A border or edging.

  3. 3

    A marginal or peripheral part.

  4. 4

    A group of people situated on the periphery of a larger community.

  5. 5

    Those members of a political party, or any social group, holding extremist or unorthodox views.

    a fringe group of the party

  6. 6

    The periphery of an area, especially a town or city.

    He lives on the fringe of London.

  7. 7

    AustraliaUsed attributively with reference to Aboriginal people living on the edge of towns etc.

  8. 8

    UKSynonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle where it is cut straight across.

    Her fringe is so long it covers her eyes.

adjective

  1. 1

    Outside the mainstream.

verb

  1. 1

    To decorate with fringe.

  2. 2

    To serve as a fringe; to border.

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

Fringe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfrange (decorative border), périphérie (peripheral part), radicaux (members of a social group holding unorthodox…), frange (d'interférence) (light or dark band formed by the diffraction of…), théâtre alternatif (non-mainstream theatre), marginal (outside the mainstream)
GermanFranse, Saum, Einfassung (decorative border), Rand, Peripherie (peripheral part), Randgruppe (members of a social group holding unorthodox…)
Portugueseborda, franja, orla (decorative border), periferia (peripheral part), radical, extremista (members of a social group holding unorthodox…)
Spanishorla (decorative border), flequillo (hanging hair over the forehead), orlar (to decorate with fringe)

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 fringe come from?

From Middle English frenge, from Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbriae (“fibers, threads, fringe”, plural), of uncertain origin. Compare German Franse and Danish frynse. Displaced native Middle English fnæd (“fringe”), Middle English byrd (“fringe”), Middle English fasel (“fringe”) from Old English fæs (“fringe”), and Old English fnæs (“fringe”). Doublet of fimbria.

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

What to look up after fringe