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pingo

pin·go/ˈpɪŋɡoʊ/noun

pingo is a noun meaning “A conical mound of earth with an ice core caused by permafrost uplift, particularly if lasting more than a year” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-I-N-G-O and has 2 syllables (pin·go), and it appears about once in every 28 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of pingo is pingoes or pingos.

What does pingo mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A conical mound of earth with an ice core caused by permafrost uplift, particularly if lasting more than a year.

  2. 2

    datedA flexible pole supported on one shoulder, with a load suspended from each end.

  3. 3

    datedA measure of weight equivalent to that which can be carried using a pingo, perhaps about 55 pounds (25 kilograms) (see the 2013 quotation).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce pingo?

  • UK /ˈpɪŋɡəʊ/
  • US /ˈpɪŋɡoʊ/

Pingo has 2 syllables, split pin·go in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pingo.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of pingo

  • pingoes plural
  • pingos plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is pingo?

Pingo appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th 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).

Pingo in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense conical mound of earth with an ice core:

LanguageWords
Frenchpingo
GermanPingo

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 pingo come from?

From Greenlandic pingu or Inuktitut pingu (“hummock, small hill”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).