siege
/siːd͡ʒ/noun, verb
siege is spelled S-I-E-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is seige: about 2,180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Siege is a noun meaning “A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or…”. The plural of siege is sieges.
How many letters and syllables are in siege?
| Letters | 5: S-I-E-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, seige, about 2,180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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).
How do you spell siege?
Siege is spelled S-I-E-G-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for siege 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 siege?
Siege appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 siege?
- /siːd͡ʒ/
- [sɪi̯d͡ʒ]
Siege has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-siege.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with siege
Also written: sedge.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of siege
- sieges plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- syege
- sieging participle, present
- sieged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does siege mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.
They sued for peace after the long siege.
- 2
USA period of struggle or difficulty, especially from illness.
- 3
A prolonged assault or attack.
- 4
obsoleteA seat, especially as used by someone of importance or authority.
- 5
obsoleteAn ecclesiastical see.
- 6
obsoleteThe place where one has his seat; a home, residence, domain, empire.
- 7
The seat of a heron while looking out for prey.
- 8
A flock of herons.
verb
- 1
To assault or blockade a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Siege in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense military blockade of settlement:
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 siege come from?
From Middle English sege, from Old French sege, siege, seige (modern French siège), from Vulgar Latin *sēdicum, from Latin sēdicŭlum, sēdēcula (“small seat”), from Latin sēdēs (“seat”). The military sense of the term is derived from the notion of an army "sitting down" in front of its target.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).