purge
/pɜɹd͡ʒ/verb, noun
purge is spelled P-U-R-G-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, purge means “To clean thoroughly; to rid of impurities; to cleanse; to clear of (something unwanted)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in purge?
| Letters | 5: P-U-R-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.7 times per million words; the 13,496th 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 purge?
Purge appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th 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 purge?
- UK /pɜːd͡ʒ/
- US /pɜɹd͡ʒ/
Purge 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-purge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with purge?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as purge from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹdʒ/):
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 purge
- purges present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- purging participle, present
- purged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does purge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To clean thoroughly; to rid of impurities; to cleanse; to clear of (something unwanted).
After the process, the machine purges the chamber before venting it to remove toxic gases.
- 2
To remove by cleansing; to wash away.
- 3
To free from sin, guilt, or burden.
- 4
To evacuate (the bowels or the stomach); to defecate or vomit.
- 5
To cause someone to purge; to operate (on somebody) using a cathartic or emetic, or in a similar manner.
- 6
To forcibly remove, for example, from political activity.
Deng Xiaoping was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution, but managed to return to power after Mao's death.
- 7
To forcibly remove people by an organization.
Cromwell had Colonel Pride purge Parliament of royalists who opposed Charles I's execution.
- 8
To clear of a charge, suspicion, or imputation.
noun
- 1
An act or instance of purging.
- 2
An evacuation of the bowels or the stomach; a defecation or vomiting.
- 3
Something which or someone who purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates the intestines; a cathartic.
- 4
A forcible removal of people, for example, from political activity.
Stalin liked to ensure that his purges were irreversible.
- 5
An act or instance of the cleansing of pipes.
- 6
A red or reddish liquid that seeps out from raw muscular meat consisting mostly of water and protein; "meat juice".
- 7
The temporarily worsening of acne due to the introduction of skincare products that increase cell turnover, bringing underlying blemishes to the surface more quickly.
- 8
slangA period of time in which normal rules supposedly do not apply; especially, a time for violence and gang war.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Purge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éliminer , épuration, purge |
| German | säubern, reinigen, läutern, entschlacken, eliminieren, löschen |
| Portuguese | purgar , purga |
| Spanish | purgar, porgar , purga, purgamiento, purgación |
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 purge come from?
From Middle English purgen, from Old French purgier, from Latin pūrgō (“to make pure, to cleanse”), from pūrus (“clean, pure”) + agō (“to make, to do”). The slang sense derived via the 2013 film The Purge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).