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PlainSpell

virga

UK /ˈvɜːɡə/noun

virga is a noun meaning “A type of note used in plainsong notation, having a tail and representing a single tone” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-I-R-G-A and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 29 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Virga, the name). The plural of virga is virgas or virgae.

What does virga mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A type of note used in plainsong notation, having a tail and representing a single tone.

  2. 2

    A streak of rain or snow that is dissipated in falling and does not reach the ground, commonly appearing descending from a cloud layer.

  3. 3

    A unit of length: a rod, pole or perch (5½ yards); or a unit of area: a square rod, pole or perch.

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

How do you pronounce virga?

  • UK /ˈvɜːɡə/

Virga 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).

Forms of virga

  • virgas plural
  • virgae plural

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

How common is virga?

Virga appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Virga, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Virga in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense streak of rain or snow:

LanguageWords
GermanSturzsträhne

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 virga come from?

Borrowed from Latin virga (“rod”). Doublet of verge.

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