sago
/ˈseɪɡəʊ/noun
sago is a noun meaning “A powdered starch obtained from certain palms (Metroxylon spp., esp. Metroxylon sagu), used as a flour and food thickener and for sizing textiles” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-A-G-O and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of sago is sagos or sagoes.
What does sago mean?
noun
- 1
A powdered starch obtained from certain palms (Metroxylon spp., esp. Metroxylon sagu), used as a flour and food thickener and for sizing textiles.
- 2
A similar starch obtained from palm-like cycad, especially Cycas revoluta.
- 3
Any of the palms and cycads from which sago starch is extracted.
- 4
Alternative form of sego.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce sago?
- /ˈseɪɡəʊ/
- /sɐˈɡo/
Sago 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)-Vealhurl-sago.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sago
- sagos plural
- sagoes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is sago?
Sago appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 67,454th 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).
Sago in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 sago come from?
From Malay sagu, via Portuguese sagu or Dutch sago.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).