jungle
/ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/noun, adjective
jungle is spelled J-U-N-G-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jungle means “A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jungle is jungles.
How many letters and syllables are in jungle?
| Letters | 6: J-U-N-G-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,878th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 jungle?
Jungle appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th 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 jungle?
- /ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/
Jungle 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: En-us-jungle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of jungle
- jungles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does jungle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest.
- 2
IndiaAny uncultivated tract of forest or scrub habitat.
- 3
colloquialA place where people behave ruthlessly, unconstrained by law or morality.
It’s a jungle out there.
- 4
A tangled mess.
- 5
slangAn area where hobos camp together.
- 6
A style of electronic dance music and precursor of drum and bass.
- 7
slangDense rough.
- 8
slangA dense mass of pubic hair.
adjective
- 1
resembling the fast-paced drumming of traditional peoples of the jungle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Jungle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | jungle, forêt vierge, forêt tropicale |
| German | Urwald, Dschungel |
| Portuguese | selva, floresta, jângal |
| Spanish | selva, jungla , selvático |
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 jungle come from?
Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi जंगल (jaṅgal) / Urdu جَن٘گَل (jaṅgal)), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀚𑀁𑀕𑀮 (jaṃgala), from Sanskrit जङ्गल (jaṅgala, “arid or sterile region, desert”), from a substrate language. First appears c. 1776 in a translation by Nathaniel Halhed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).