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maggot

mag·got/ˈmæɡət/noun, verb, adjective

maggot is spelled M-A-G-G-O-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables (mag·got). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,943rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, maggot means “A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipteran insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of maggot is maggots.

How many letters and syllables are in maggot?

Letters6: M-A-G-G-O-T
Syllables2: mag·got
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 37,943rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 maggot?

Maggot appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,943rd 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 maggot?

  • /ˈmæɡət/
  • /ˈmeɪ̯ɡət/

Maggot has 2 syllables, split mag·got in writing.

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

Forms of maggot

  • maggots plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • maggoting participle, present
  • maggoted participle, past
  • more maggot comparative
  • most maggot superlative

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

What does maggot mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipteran insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.

  2. 2

    derogatoryslangvulgarA worthless, obnoxious or contemptible person.

    Drop and give me fifty, maggot.

  3. 3

    archaicA whimsy or fancy.

  4. 4

    slangA fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

  5. 5

    USderogatoryoffensiveslangAlternative form of MAGAt.

verb

  1. 1

    To rid (an animal) of maggots.

adjective

  1. 1

    AustraliacolloquialAlternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”).

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

Maggot in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchasticot, larve (dipterous insect's larva that eats decomposing…)
GermanMade, Fleischmade (dipterous insect's larva that eats decomposing…)
Portugueselarva (dipterous insect's larva that eats decomposing…), verme (worthless person), capricho (whimsy or fancy)
Spanishlarva, cresa, gusano, verme, vierme, queresa (dipterous insect's larva that eats decomposing…)

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 maggot come from?

From Middle English magot, magat, maked, probably a metathetic alteration of maddock, maðek (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Proto-West Germanic *maþō, from Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask, Icelandic maðkur (“worm, grub, maggot”).

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

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