phage
/feɪd͡ʒ/noun
phage is spelled P-H-A-G-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, phage means “A virus that is parasitic on bacteria” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of phage is phages.
How many letters and syllables are in phage?
| Letters | 5: P-H-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 43,663rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is phage?
Phage appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd 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 phage?
- /feɪd͡ʒ/
Phage has one syllable (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-phage.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--phage.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of phage
- phages plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does phage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A virus that is parasitic on bacteria.
"The plural word phages refers to different types of phage, whereas in common usage the word phage can be both singular and plural, referring in the plural sense to particles of the same type of phage." Maloy et al: Microbial Genetics, 2nd
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Phage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense something that eats, or consumes:
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 phage come from?
Clipping of bacteriophage from bacterio- (“bacteria”) + -phage (“eater”); latter suffix from Ancient Greek -φάγος (-phágos, “eater”), from φαγ- (phag-), aorist stem of ἐσθίω (esthíō) or ἔδω (édō, “to eat, to consume”). Stem φαγ- (phag-) may also derive from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to divide, distribute”) thus ultimately doublet of bhakti (via Sanskrit भक्ति (bhakti, “portion, division”) from root भज् (bhaj, “to divide, to apportion”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).