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scapegoat

/ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/noun, verb

scapegoat is spelled S-C-A-P-E-G-O-A-T: 9 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, scapegoat means “In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scapegoat is scapegoats.

How many letters and syllables are in scapegoat?

Letters9: S-C-A-P-E-G-O-A-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 25,070th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is scapegoat?

Scapegoat 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 scapegoat?

  • US /ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/
  • UK /ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/

Scapegoat 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: En-us-scapegoat.ogg, En-au-scapegoat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of scapegoat

  • scapegoats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • scapegoating participle, present
  • scapegoated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does scapegoat mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.

  2. 2

    Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.

    He is making me a scapegoat for his own poor business decisions and the supply chain disruptions caused by the hurricane!

verb

  1. 1

    To unfairly blame or punish someone for some failure; to make a scapegoat of.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Scapegoat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbouc émissaire (a goat imbued with the sins of the people), chèvre émissaire (someone blamed for someone else's error(s)), bouc-émissariser (to blame or punish for the errors of others)
GermanSündenbock (a goat imbued with the sins of the people), Prügelknabe (someone blamed for someone else's error(s)), zum Sündenbock machen (to blame or punish for the errors of others)
Portuguesebode expiatório (a goat imbued with the sins of the people), fazer de bode expiatório (to blame or punish for the errors of others)
Spanishchivo expiatorio (a goat imbued with the sins of the people), cabeza de turco, chivo emisario (someone blamed for someone else's error(s)), usar de chivo expiatorio (to blame or punish for the errors of others)

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 scapegoat come from?

From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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