Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dreg

/ˈdɹɛɡ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.43 in modern English

Syllables: dreg
IPA: /ˈdɹɛɡ/

6

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

singular of dregs (“sediment in a liquid”)

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"to the last dreg"
"What makes this pretty abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love?"
"O! be the cup of joy to thee consign'd, / Of joy unmix'd, without a dreg behind!"
"Fear and trauma may drain to the last dreg the dischargeable nervous energy, and, therefore, the greatest possible exhaustion may be produced by fear and trauma."
"“Ay, thou doubter! Ay thou disbelieving dreg!”"

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse dregg (“sediment”), from Proto-Germanic *dragjō (whence also Icelandic dregg, Swedish drägg), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrā́ks (“sediment”); see also Latin fraces (“lees of oil”), Albanian ndrag (“to make dirty, foul”), dra (“sediments of dairy products or liquids”).

Origin

Source language: Proto-Germanic

Word Breakdown

Root: *dragjō, *dʰrā́ks

Usage

Inflected Forms

dregs (plural)

Derived Forms

dreggish dreggy dregless

Phrases

tofu-dreg

Homonyms

drag (æ-raising)

Rhymes With

leg egg greg craig beg rotten egg reg meg peg gregg keg deg

Questions

How do you pronounce dreg?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈdɹɛɡ/.
What does dreg mean?: singular of dregs (“sediment in a liquid”)
Where does dreg come from?: It is traced to Proto-Germanic.

How to pronounce dreg

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dreg”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈdɹɛɡ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “dreg”.
Repeat and practice — Say “dreg” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.