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leg

/lɛɡ/noun, verb, adjective

leg is spelled L-E-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, leg means “A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of leg is legs.

How many letters and syllables are in leg?

Letters3: L-E-G
Syllables1
In writing46 times per million words; the 2,204th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is leg?

Leg appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th 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 leg?

  • /lɛɡ/
  • [lɛɡ]
  • Australia /leɡ/

Leg has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-leg.ogg, En-us-leg.ogg, En-au-leg.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with leg

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with leg?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as leg.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gel.

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 leg

  • legs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • legge
  • legging participle, present
  • legged participle, past

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

What does leg mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.

    Insects have six legs.

  2. 2

    In humans, the lower limb extending from the groin to the ankle.

    Dan won't be able to come to the party, since he broke his leg last week and is now on crutches.

  3. 3

    The portion of the lower limb of a human that extends from the knee to the ankle.

  4. 4

    A part of garment, such as a pair of trousers/pants, that covers a leg.

    The left leg of these jeans has a tear.

  5. 5

    A rod-like protrusion from an inanimate object, such as a piece of furniture, supporting it from underneath.

    the legs of a chair or table

  6. 6

    Something that supports.

    This observation is an important leg of my argument.

  7. 7

    A stage of a journey, race etc.

    After six days, we're finally in the last leg of our cross-country trip.

  8. 8

    A distance that a sailing vessel does without changing the sails from one side to the other.

  9. 9

    Alternative spelling of leg..

verb

  1. 1

    To remove the legs from an animal carcass.

  2. 2

    To build legs onto a platform or stage for support.

  3. 3

    To put a series of three or more options strikes into the stock market.

  4. 4

    To apply force using the leg (as in 'to leg a horse').

  5. 5

    To thrust up or raise via the legs; to give a leg-up to.

adjective

  1. 1

    Alternative spelling of leg..

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

Leg in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjambe (lower limb from groin to ankle), cathète ((mathematics) leg (non-hypotenuse) of a right…)
GermanBein (lower limb from groin to ankle), Unterschenkel (portion of the lower appendage from knee to…), Hosenbein (part of garment covering the leg), Etappe, Abschnitt (stage of journey), Satz (game played in a tournament)
Portugueseperna (lower limb from groin to ankle), calça (part of garment covering the leg), etapa (stage of journey), partida (game played in a tournament), pé (supporting protrusion of an inanimate object)
Spanishpierna, pata, calanca (lower limb from groin to ankle), pernera (part of garment covering the leg), etapa (stage of journey)

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 leg come from?

From Middle English leg, legge, from Old Norse leggr (“leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz, *lagwijaz (“leg, thigh”) (see it for more).

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

What to look up after leg