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plague

/plɛɡ/noun, verb

plague is spelled P-L-A-G-U-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, plague means “The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of plague is plagues.

How many letters and syllables are in plague?

Letters6: P-L-A-G-U-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing7.8 times per million words; the 8,417th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 plague?

Plague appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th 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 plague?

  • /pleɪɡ/
  • [pʰl̥eɪɡ]
  • US /plɛɡ/

Plague 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-plague.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with plague?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as plague from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɡ/):

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 plague

  • plagues plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • plaguing participle, present
  • plagued participle, past

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

What does plague mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.

  2. 2

    An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but especially that caused by the above disease.

  3. 3

    A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.

    Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.

  4. 4

    A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates.

    Bart is an utter plague; his pranks never cease.

  5. 5

    A group of common grackles (a blackbird), especially when flocking to e.g. parking lots at night.

verb

  1. 1

    To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.

  2. 2

    To afflict with a disease or other calamity.

    Natural catastrophes plagued the colonists till they abandoned the pestilent marshland.

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

Plague in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpeste (specific disease "the Plague"), fléau, plaie, calamité (widespread affliction, calamity), affliger (to harass)
GermanPest (specific disease "the Plague"), Geißel (widespread affliction, calamity), zusetzen (to harass), Plage, Seuche (an epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence), plagen (to afflict with disease or calamity)
Portuguesepeste negra, peste bubónica, peste bubônica, peste, praga (specific disease "the Plague"), incomodar (to harass)
Spanishplaga, peste (specific disease "the Plague"), plagar, molestar, atormentar, asaetear (to harass)

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 plague come from?

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.

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

What to look up after plague