# ridge

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹɪd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #5,914

## Definitions
1. The back of any animal; especially the upper or projecting part of the back of a quadruped.
2. Any extended protuberance; a projecting line or strip.
3. The line along which two sloping surfaces meet which diverge towards the ground.
4. The highest point on a roof, represented by a horizontal line where two roof areas intersect, running the length of the area.
5. The highest portion of the glacis proceeding from the salient angle of the covered way.
6. A chain of mountains.
7. A chain of hills.
8. A long narrow elevation on an ocean bottom.
9. An elongated region of high atmospheric pressure.

## Etymology
From Middle English rigge, rygge, (also rig, ryg, rug), from Old English hryċġ (“back, spine, ridge, elevated surface”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrugi, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krewk-, *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).
Cognate with Scots rig (“back, spine, ridge”), North Frisian reg (“back”), West Frisian rêch (“back”), Dutch rug (“back, ridge”), German Rücken (“back, ridge”), Swedish rygg (“back, spine, ridge”), Icelandic hryggur (“spine”). Cognate to Albanian kërrus (“to bend one's back”) and kurriz (“back”).

## Easily confused with
- **rig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rig)
- **ring** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ring)
- **rise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rise)
- **rude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rude)
- **rode** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rode)
- **ripe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ripe)
- **rite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rite)
- **rigs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rigs)
- **rife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rife)
- **Riga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-riga)
- **Ryde** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ryde)
- **rings** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rings)
- **rifle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rifle)
- **rouge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rouge)
- **rinse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rinse)
- **Ringo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ringo)
- **rigged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-rigged)
- **ridges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ridges)
- **ridley** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ridley)
- **ringer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ridge-vs-ringer)

## Common misspellings (7)
`irdge`, `rdige`, `riddge`, `rideg`, `ridgge`, `rigde`, `rridge`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ridge