mirage
/mɪˈɹɑːʒ/noun, verb
mirage is spelled M-I-R-A-G-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mirage means “An optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mirage is mirages.
How many letters and syllables are in mirage?
| Letters | 6: M-I-R-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 19,825th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mirage?
Mirage appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th 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 mirage?
- /mɪˈɹɑːʒ/
- /mɪˈɹaʒ/
- /mɪˈɹɑːd͡ʒ/
Mirage 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-mirage.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with mirage?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as mirage.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: imager, maigre.
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 mirage
- mirages plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- miraging participle, present
- miraged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mirage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water.
- 2
An illusion.
verb
- 1
To cause to appear as or like a mirage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mirage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an optical phenomenon:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mirage |
| German | Luftspiegelung, Fata Morgana |
| Portuguese | miragem |
| Spanish | espejismo |
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 mirage come from?
An unadapted borrowing from French mirage c. 1812.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).