zeugma
/ˈzjuːɡ.mə/noun
zeugma is spelled Z-E-U-G-M-A: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 55 million words in written English, the 231,291st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, zeugma means “The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of zeugma is zeugmata or zeugmas.
How many letters and syllables are in zeugma?
| Letters | 6: Z-E-U-G-M-A |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 55 million words; the 231,291st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is zeugma?
Zeugma appears about once in every 55 million words in written English, the 231,291st 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 zeugma?
- /ˈzjuːɡ.mə/
- /ˈzuːɡ.mə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-zeugma.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of zeugma
- zeugmata plural
- zeugmas plural
- zeugmenon
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does zeugma mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one.
- 2
Syllepsis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Zeugma in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense using a word to apply to more than one noun:
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 zeugma come from?
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “yoking; a bond, a band”), from ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke; to join”), from ζεῦγος (zeûgos, “a yoke”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).