galangal
/ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/noun
galangal is spelled G-A-L-A-N-G-A-L: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, galangal means “Any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of galangal is galangals.
How many letters and syllables are in galangal?
| Letters | 8: G-A-L-A-N-G-A-L |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 134,976th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is galangal?
Galangal appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th 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 galangal?
- /ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-galangal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of galangal
- galangals plural
- galingale
- galanga
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does galangal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Galangal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any of several plants of the ginger family:
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 galangal come from?
From Middle English galyngale, from Old French galingal, from Arabic خَلَنْجَان (ḵalanjān), from Persian قولنجان (qulenjân, qulanjân), from Sanskrit कुलञ्जन (kulañjana), perhaps from Chinese 高良薑／高良姜 (gāoliángjiāng), from 高涼 /高凉 (Gāoliáng) (a prefecture or county in China) + 薑 /姜 (jiāng, “ginger”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).