propagate
/ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/verb
propagate is spelled P-R-O-P-A-G-A-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is propogate: about 660 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Propagate is a verb meaning “To cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production”.
How many letters and syllables are in propagate?
| Letters | 9: P-R-O-P-A-G-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, propogate, about 660 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell propagate?
Propagate is spelled P-R-O-P-A-G-A-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for propagate in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is propagate?
Propagate appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 propagate?
- UK /ˈpɹɒpəˌɡeɪt/
- US /ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/
- Australia /ˈpɹɔpəˌɡæɪt/
Propagate has 3 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: En-us-propagate.oga, En-ca-propagate.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of propagate
- propagates present, singular, he/she/it
- propagating participle, present
- propagated participle, past
- more propagate comparative
- most propagate superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does propagate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production.
June 1879, William Keith Brooks, Popular Science Monthly Volume 15 - The Condition of Women from a Zoological Point of View I A marked bud-variation is of very rare occurrence, but in many cases the tendency of plants raised from seeds to d
- 2
To cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space.
to propagate sound or light
- 3
To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate.
- 4
obsoleteTo multiply; to increase.
- 5
To generate; to produce.
- 6
To be propagated; to travel.
- 7
To produce young; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants.
- 8
To take effect on all relevant devices in a network.
It takes 24 hours for password changes to propagate throughout the system.
adjective
- 1
obsoletepropagated
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Propagate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | propagar |
| Spanish | propagar , propagarse |
| German | verbreiten , sich vermehren |
| French | se propager |
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 propagate come from?
First attested in 1535; from Latin prōpāgātus, perfect passive participle of prōpāgō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).