surrogate
/ˈsɝəɡɪt/noun, adjective, verb
surrogate is spelled S-U-R-R-O-G-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, surrogate means “A substitute (usually of a person, position or role)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of surrogate is surrogates.
How many letters and syllables are in surrogate?
| Letters | 9: S-U-R-R-O-G-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 surrogate?
Surrogate appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th 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 surrogate?
- UK /ˈsʌɹəɡɪt/
- US /ˈsɝəɡɪt/
As a verb (“To replace or substitute something with something else; to…”): /ˈsʌɹəɡeɪt/, /ˈsɝəɡeɪt/.
Surrogate has 3 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-surrogate.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-surrogate.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-surrogate2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of surrogate
- surrogates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- more surrogate comparative
- most surrogate superlative
- surrogating participle, present
- surrogated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does surrogate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A substitute (usually of a person, position or role).
A mixture of horseradish and mustard often serves as a surrogate for wasabi.
- 2
A person or animal that acts as a substitute for the social or pastoral role of another, such as a surrogate parent.
- 3
UKA deputy for a bishop in granting licences for marriage.
- 4
USA politician or person of influence campaigning for a presidential candidate.
- 5
USA judicial officer of limited jurisdiction, who administers matters of probate and intestate succession and, in some cases, adoptions.
- 6
Any of a range of Unicode codepoints which are used in pairs in UTF-16 to represent characters beyond the Basic Multilingual Plane.
- 7
An ersatz good.
- 8
Ellipsis of surrogate key.
adjective
- 1
Of, concerning, relating to or acting as a substitute.
verb
- 1
To replace or substitute something with something else; to appoint a successor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Surrogate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | remplaçant, remplaçante, suppléant, suppléante, substitut, substitute |
| German | Ersatz-, Stellvertreter, Stellvertreterin , Ersatz, Substitut , Surrogat |
| Portuguese | substituto |
| Spanish | sustituto, substituto, subrogante , subrogar |
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 surrogate come from?
From Latin surrogātus, perfect passive participle of surrogō (“to choose someone as a substitute”); a variant of subrogō, from sub (“under”) + rogō (“ask”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).