pongo

\pɔ̃.ɡɔ\

/\pɔ̃.ɡɔ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pongo” is uncommon French (frequency #86,035 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,035
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand singe, gorille.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pongo · pongo · French

pongo · rank #86,035 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,035
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH polyèdre

Nearest frequency peer: polyèdre (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « pongo »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « pongo » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pongo
PropertyValue
Headwordpongo
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ̃.ɡɔ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#86,035
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « pongo » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).pongotombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « polyèdre » (#86,033), « polysémique » (#86,032), « potassique » (#86,038). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pongo » est au #86,035. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pongo is uncommon French at frequency #86,035 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔ̃.ɡɔ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Grand singe, gorille.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pongo, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is pongo, spelled P-O-N-G-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand singe, gorille.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how pongo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il est manifeste que cet Inchegoou Intchego, de taille moyenne, et ce gigantesque Ingena ne sont autres que l’Engeco et le Pongo de Battell, l’Enché-éko ou N’tchégo et l'Engé-éna, N'gina, Gina ou D’jina des auteurs modernes : mêmes noms, parce que ce sont les mêmes espèces, et dans le même pays.

Synonyms

pungo

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pongo"?
"pongo" is spelled P-O-N-G-O. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ̃.ɡɔ\.
What does "pongo" mean?
As a noun, "pongo" means: Grand singe, gorille.
How do you pronounce "pongo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pongo" is \pɔ̃.ɡɔ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pongo" come from?
"pongo" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pongo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

prati#86,044pella#86,005pulsé#86,066papet#85,995

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list