mug
/mʌɡ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.71 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A stupid or contemptible person.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; British usage; Derogatory; Slang
Example Sentences
- "[…] 'let him go, I tell you, or I'll be after breaking your ugly mug,' and with that I gave him a dig that knocked him into smithereens."
- "When did ever a gentleman o’ fortune show his stern to that much dollars for a boosy old seaman with a blue mug — and him dead too?"
- "Shut your mug!"
- "He's a gullible mug – he believed her again."
- "Perhaps if I told you that there were forty arrests made in one day here, you will realize that with this small equipment available in the Sheriff's Office, it is very difficult to get mugs. These people are being mugged as they are being arrested but with an entirely inadequate force at work prints have not as yet been made."
- "Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well Mugg'd."
Etymology
Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /mʌɡ/
- British English: /mʌɡ/