# peg

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɛɡ/ · frequency rank #15,243

## Definitions
1. A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.
3. A support; a reason; a pretext.
4. A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
5. A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.
6. A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.
7. A place formally allotted for fishing
8. A leg or foot.
9. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.
10. A step; a degree.
11. Ellipsis of clothes peg.
12. A topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.
13. A stump.
14. The penetration during anal sex using a strap-on dildo.
15. A serving of brandy and soda.
16. A serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.
17. A shilling.
18. An easily recalled image that a person mentally visualizes with something else, in order to remember that other thing. See mnemonic peg system.

## Etymology
From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak.
This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare.
(To indicate or ascribe an attribute to): Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.

## Easily confused with
- **PM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pm)
- **PP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pp)
- **PR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pr)
- **pt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pt)
- **PS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-ps)
- **po** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-po)
- **pi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pi)
- **PG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pg)
- **PL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pl)
- **PF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pf)
- **PU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pu)
- **PK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pk)
- **PV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pv)
- **PJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pj)
- **PW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pw)
- **PX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-px)
- **put** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-put)
- **per** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-per)
- **pro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pro)
- **pop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peg-vs-pop)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/peg