fungus
/ˈfʌŋ.ɡəs/noun
fungus is spelled F-U-N-G-U-S: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fungus means “A eukaryotic organism of the kingdom Fungi typically having chitin cell walls but no chlorophyll or plastids. Fungi may be unicellular or…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fungus is fungi or funguses; Wiktionary also lists fungusses (nonstandard).
How many letters and syllables are in fungus?
| Letters | 6: F-U-N-G-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is fungus?
Fungus appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th 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 fungus?
- US /ˈfʌŋ.ɡəs/
- /ˈfʊŋ.ɡəs/
Fungus 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)-Wodencafe-fungus.wav, En-us-fungus.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with fungus?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fungus from its last stressed vowel (/ʌŋɡəs/):
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 fungus
- fungi plural
- funguses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fungus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A eukaryotic organism of the kingdom Fungi typically having chitin cell walls but no chlorophyll or plastids. Fungi may be unicellular or multicellular.
- 2
The flesh of such an organism.
- 3
archaicA spongy, abnormal excrescence, such as excessive granulation tissue formed in a wound.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fungus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any member of the kingdom Fungi:
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 fungus come from?
Borrowed from Latin fungus (“mushroom”). Displaced native Old English swamm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).