MacGuffin
/məˈɡʌf.ɪn/noun
MacGuffin is spelled M-A-C-G-U-F-F-I-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 105,204th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, MacGuffin means “A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of MacGuffin is MacGuffins.
How many letters and syllables are in MacGuffin?
| Letters | 9: M-A-C-G-U-F-F-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 12 million words; the 105,204th 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 MacGuffin?
MacGuffin appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 105,204th 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 MacGuffin?
- US /məˈɡʌf.ɪn/
MacGuffin has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-MacGuffin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of MacGuffin
- MacGuffins plural
- McGuffin
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does MacGuffin mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does MacGuffin come from?
Used by Alfred Hitchcock, as an arbitrary Scottish surname. The actual name comes from Ulster: Mc- (“son of”) + Irish dubh (“black”) + Irish Fionn (literally “fairheaded”). See also Wikipedia's MacGuffin § History and use.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).