jug
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "jug", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "jug" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "jug" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
jug is aEnglishnoun. It means: A serving vessel or container, typically circular in cross-section and typically higher than it is wide, with a relatively small mouth or spout, an ear handle and often a stopper or top. Pronounced /d͡ʒʌɡ/. Often confused with JV and JW.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jug |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /d͡ʒʌɡ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,628 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for jug is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /d͡ʒʌɡ/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,628 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for jug in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "JV", "JW", "jun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English jugge, of uncertain origin. Possibly a variant of Middle English jubbe, jobbe, iubbe, geobbe, itself of unknown origin; or perhaps continuing (in altered form) Old English ċēac (“pitcher; jug”). Compare also jug (“a low woman, maidservan… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is jug, spelled J-U-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A serving vessel or container, typically circular in cross-section and typically higher than it is wide, with a relatively small mouth or spout, an ear handle and often a stopper or top.
- 2The amount that a jug can hold.
- 3Jail.
- 4A woman's breasts.
- 5An upright electric kettle.
- 6A kind of large, high-powered vacuum tube.
- 7The P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft.
- 8A hold large enough for both hands
- 9A traditional dimpled glass with a handle, for serving a pint of beer.
Etymology
From Middle English jugge, of uncertain origin. Possibly a variant of Middle English jubbe, jobbe, iubbe, geobbe, itself of unknown origin; or perhaps continuing (in altered form) Old English ċēac (“pitcher; jug”). Compare also jug (“a low woman, maidservant”), from Jug, familiar form of Joanna. Prison sense attested from at least 1825 in Britain.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #19,628 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter J in our English index: