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milligram

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "milligram", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "milligram" 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 "milligram" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

milligram is aEnglishnoun. It means: An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻³ grams. Symbol: mg Pronounced /ˈmɪlɪɡɹæm/.

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Key facts for milligram
PropertyValue
Headwordmilligram
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɪlɪɡɹæm/
Letters9
Frequency rank#56,287
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of milligram in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for milligram is 9 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɪlɪɡɹæm/. Corpus data places it at rank #56,287 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻³ grams. Symbol: mg".

No misspelling variants are generated for milligram in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French milligramme, equivalent to milli- + gram. 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 milligram, spelled M-I-L-L-I-G-R-A-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻³ grams. Symbol: mg

Etymology

Borrowed from French milligramme, equivalent to milli- + gram.

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #56,287 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "milligram"?
"milligram" is spelled M-I-L-L-I-G-R-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɪlɪɡɹæm/.
What does "milligram" mean?
As a noun, "milligram" means: An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻³ grams. Symbol: mg
How do you pronounce "milligram"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "milligram" is /ˈmɪlɪɡɹæm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "milligram"?
Borrowed from French milligramme, equivalent to milli- + gram. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.