porridge
/ˈpɔɹɪd͡ʒ/noun
porridge is spelled P-O-R-R-I-D-G-E: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, porridge means “A dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of porridge is porridges.
How many letters and syllables are in porridge?
| Letters | 8: P-O-R-R-I-D-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,070th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 porridge?
Porridge appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th 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 porridge?
- UK /ˈpɒɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/
- US /ˈpɔɹɪd͡ʒ/
- /ˈpɑɹɪd͡ʒ/
Porridge has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Simplificationalizer-porridge.wav, En-au-porridge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with porridge?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as porridge from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹɪdʒ/):
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 porridge
- porridges plural
- parritch
- porage
- porrige
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does porridge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast.
Eat your porridge while it's hot!
- 2
UKOat porridge; oatmeal.
- 3
Rice porridge; congee.
- 4
UKslangA prison sentence.
Just do your porridge and keep your head down.
- 5
rareA type of thick soup or stew, especially thickened with barley.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Porridge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense breakfast cereal dish – see also oatmeal:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bouillie, porridge, gruau |
| German | Brei |
| Portuguese | mingau, papa |
| Spanish | gachas, puches, papilla |
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 porridge come from?
Variant of pottage (“thick soup or stew”), influenced by porray (“stew of leeks”). The "prison sentence" sense comes from the British tradition of serving prisoners porridge for breakfast.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).