wig
/wɪɡ/noun, verb, interjection
wig is spelled W-I-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wig means “A head of real or synthetic hair worn on the head to disguise baldness, for cultural or religious reasons, for fashion, or by actors to help them…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wig is wigs.
How many letters and syllables are in wig?
| Letters | 3: W-I-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 common is wig?
Wig appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 wig?
- /wɪɡ/
Wig 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-wig.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with wig
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of wig
- wigs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- wigging participle, present
- wigged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wig mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A head of real or synthetic hair worn on the head to disguise baldness, for cultural or religious reasons, for fashion, or by actors to help them better resemble the character they are portraying.
- 2
A bigwig.
- 3
datedAn old seal.
verb
- 1
To put on a wig; to provide with a wig (especially of an actor etc.).
- 2
colloquialTo upbraid, reprimand.
- 3
colloquialslangTo act in an extremely emotional way; to be overly excited, irritable, nervous, or fearful; behave erratically.
That guy must be high. Look how he's wigging.
- 4
slangTo shoot in the head.
interjection
- 1
An expression of shock.
adjective
- 1
Initialism of wing-in-ground effect.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wig in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | perruque |
| German | Perücke |
| Portuguese | peruca |
| Spanish | peluca, zorongo , cabellar, cabellarse |
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 wig come from?
Clipping of periwig, itself an alteration of French perruque. The meaning of "to reprimand" perhaps came from this being something a bigwig would do or perhaps from the expressions to flip one's wig, wigs on the green, or dash my wig!
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).