mucilage
/ˈmju.sɪ.lɪd͡ʒ/noun
mucilage is spelled M-U-C-I-L-A-G-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mucilage means “A thick gluey substance (gum) produced by many plants and some microorganisms” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mucilage is mucilages.
How many letters and syllables are in mucilage?
| Letters | 8: M-U-C-I-L-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 124,184th 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 mucilage?
Mucilage appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th 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 mucilage?
- UK /ˈmjuː.sɪ.lɪd͡ʒ/
- US /ˈmju.sɪ.lɪd͡ʒ/
- US /ˈmju.sə.lɪd͡ʒ/
Mucilage 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-mucilage.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-mucilage.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mucilage
- mucilages plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mucilage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A thick gluey substance (gum) produced by many plants and some microorganisms.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mucilage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense thick gluey substance produced by many plants:
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 mucilage come from?
From Middle English muscilage, mussillage, from Middle French mucilage (“viscous substance found in vegetable material”), from Late Latin mūcilāgō (“musty or moldy juice”). See Greek μούχλα (moúchla, “mold”), and related derivatives, for example mushroom, from *meus- (“mosses, mold, mildew”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).