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judge

/d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ/noun, verb

judge is spelled J-U-D-G-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 89 times per million words in written English, the 1,191st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, judge means “A public official whose duty it is to administer the law, especially by presiding over trials and rendering judgments; a justice” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of judge is judges.

How many letters and syllables are in judge?

Letters5: J-U-D-G-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing89 times per million words; the 1,191st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 judge?

Judge appears 89 times per million words in written English, the 1,191st 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 judge?

  • /d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ/

Judge 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-judge.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-judge.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of judge

  • judges plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • judging participle, present
  • judged participle, past

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

What does judge mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A public official whose duty it is to administer the law, especially by presiding over trials and rendering judgments; a justice.

  2. 2

    A person who decides the fate of someone or something that has been called into question.

  3. 3

    A person officiating at a sports event, a contest, or similar; referee.

    At a boxing match, the decision of the judges is final.

  4. 4

    A person who evaluates something or forms an opinion.

    She is a good judge of wine.

  5. 5

    A shophet, a temporary leader appointed in times of crisis in ancient Israel.

verb

  1. 1

    To sit in judgment on; to pass sentence on (a person or matter).

    A higher power will judge you after you are dead.

  2. 2

    To sit in judgment, to act as judge.

    Justices in this country judge without appeal.

  3. 3

    To judicially rule or determine.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo sentence to punishment, to judicially condemn.

    He was judged to die for his crimes.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo award judicially; to adjudge.

  6. 6

    To form an opinion on; to appraise.

    I judge a man’s character by the cut of his suit.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo constitute a fitting appraisal or criterion of; to provide a basis for forming an opinion on.

  8. 8

    To arbitrate; to pass opinion on something, especially to settle a dispute etc.

    We cannot both be right: you must judge between us.

noun

as Judge
  1. 1

    The title of a judge.

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

Judge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjuge (public judicial official), arbitre (sports official), juger (to sit in judgment on, pass sentence on), trancher (to arbitrate, to pass opinion on something), estimer (to have as an opinion, consider, suppose)
GermanRichter, Richterin (public judicial official), Schiedsrichter, Schiedsrichterin (sports official), richten, ein Urteil fällen über (to sit in judgment on, pass sentence on)
Portuguesejuiz, juíza (public judicial official), julgar (to sit in judgment on, pass sentence on), considerar (to have as an opinion, consider, suppose)
Spanishjuez, jueza, judgador (disused) (public judicial official), árbitro (sports official), juzgar (to sit in judgment on, pass sentence on), experto (someone deciding another's fate)

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 judge come from?

From Middle English juge, jugge, from Old French juge, from Latin iūdex. Displaced native Middle English deme (from Old English dēma (“judge”)) and demere (from Old English dēmere (“judge”)), see also deemer, deemster.

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

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