scourge
/skɜɹd͡ʒ/noun, verb
scourge is spelled S-C-O-U-R-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is skurge: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 43 of all searches for the word. Scourge is a noun meaning “A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash”. The plural of scourge is scourges.
How many letters and syllables are in scourge?
| Letters | 7: S-C-O-U-R-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, skurge, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell scourge?
Scourge is spelled S-C-O-U-R-G-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 43 of the searches for scourge 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 scourge?
Scourge appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st 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 scourge?
- UK /skɜːd͡ʒ/
- US /skɜɹd͡ʒ/
- US [skɔɹd͡ʒ]
Scourge 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-scourge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with scourge?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as scourge 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 scourge
- scourges plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- scourging participle, present
- scourged participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scourge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash.
He flogged him with a scourge.
- 2
A person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment.
- 3
A source of persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble, such as a cruel ruler, disease, pestilence, or war.
Graffiti is the scourge of building owners everywhere.
verb
- 1
To strike (a person, an animal, etc.) with a scourge (noun etymology 1 sense 1) or whip; to flog, to whip.
- 2
To drive, or force (a person, an animal, etc.) to move, with or as if with a scourge or whip.
- 3
To punish (a person, an animal, etc.); to chastise.
- 4
To cause (someone or something) persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble; to afflict, to torment.
- 5
ScotlandOf a crop or a farmer: to deplete the fertility of (land or soil).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scourge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | écourgée, fouet , fléau |
| German | Geißel, Peitsche , Bürde, Heimsuchung, Last |
| Portuguese | açoite, flagelo, azorrague |
| Spanish | flagelo , azote |
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.