fatberg
/ˈfætbɝɡ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.16 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A large accumulation of fat and discarded toiletries which clogs sewers.
Example Sentences
- "Months ago a tunnel was clogged with a fatberg. It took a team of workers a month to move it."
- "Bleeding big fatberg up there. About half a ton's worth. [...] Gorman feels an involuntary shudder travel down his spine and agitate his stomach. He's seen those fatbergs on the training videos; huge accumulated walls of solidified grease and food and tissue and excrement, the churned result of everyday debris tipped down the domestic sinks and bathtubs and toilets of London."
- "Then I worked in the sewers of Manchester – a six month stint of that, jabbing pressure-water-poles at fatbergs, tonnes of used kebab grease and congealed sump oil, woven together with thousands of used wet wipes."
- "A 250-metre long fatberg weighing 130 tonnes which was blocking an east London sewer has been cleared after a nine-week "battle". The solid mass of congealed fat, wet wipes, nappies, oil and condoms was found in the Victorian-era tunnel in Whitechapel in September. Thames Water said it had taken longer to clear than expected because of the damage it caused to the sewer."
- "Thames Water has become the latest object lesson in the predictable and predicted folly of privatised monopolies, aided by a regulator that’s an even bigger wet wipe than the fatbergs bunging up the sewers."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfætbɝɡ/
- British English: /ˈfætbɜːɡ/