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PlainSpell

slag

/ˈslæɡ/noun, verb

slag is spelled S-L-A-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, slag means “Waste material from a mine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of slag is slags.

How many letters and syllables are in slag?

Letters4: S-L-A-G
Syllables1
In writing1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is slag?

Slag 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 slag?

  • US /ˈslæɡ/
  • British /ˈslaɡ/
  • Australia /ˈslæ(ː)ɡ/

Slag has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-slag.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with slag?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as slag from its last stressed vowel (/æɡ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gals.

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 slag

  • slags plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • slagging participle, present
  • slagged participle, past

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

What does slag mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Waste material from a mine.

  2. 2

    Scum that forms on the surface of molten metal.

  3. 3

    Impurities formed and separated out when a metal is smelted from ore; vitrified cinders.

  4. 4

    Hard aggregate remaining as a residue from blast furnaces, sometimes used as a surfacing material.

  5. 5

    Scoria associated with a volcano.

  6. 6

    AustraliaIrelandUKderogatoryslangA prostitute or promiscuous woman; a slut.

  7. 7

    IrelandUKdatedderogatoryA coward.

  8. 8

    IrelandUKderogatoryA contemptible person, a scumbag.

verb

  1. 1

    To produce slag.

  2. 2

    To become slag; to agglomerate when heated below the fusion point.

  3. 3

    To reduce to slag.

  4. 4

    UKslangTo talk badly about; to malign or denigrate (someone).

  5. 5

    IrelandslangTo make fun of; to take the piss (tease, ridicule or mock).

  6. 6

    AustraliaslangTo spit.

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

Slag in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanAbraum (waste material from a mine), Schlacke (the impurities which result and are separated…), Lava, Schweißschlacke, Auswurf (the scoria of a volcano), verschlacken (to make slag)
Frenchscorie (the impurities which result and are separated…), pute (a woman (sometimes a man) who has loose morals…)
Portugueseescória (the impurities which result and are separated…)
Spanishescoria, telilla (the impurities which result and are separated…), rajar de, cuerear (to talk badly about someone; to denigrate…)

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 slag come from?

Borrowed from Middle Low German slagge, slaggen (“slag, dross”), from Old Saxon *slaggo, from Proto-West Germanic *slaggō, from Proto-Germanic *slaggô, from Proto-Germanic *slagōną (“to strike”) + *-gô (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Low German slāgen (“to strike”), since originally the splinters struck off from the metal by hammering, from *slagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *slagōn. Compare also Old Saxon slegi, from Proto-West Germanic *slagi. See also Dutch slak, German Schlacke, Swedish slagg; also compare English slay.

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

What to look up after slag