Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wug

/wʌɡ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.23 in modern English

Syllables: wug
IPA: /wʌɡ/

7

Scrabble Score

3

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An imaginary creature resembling a bird, used in the Wug Test to investigate the acquisition of the plural form in English-speaking children.

noun

In folk taxonomy, a creature with worm or insect features; colloquially, a bug or creepy-crawly.

Etymology

] Coined ex nihilo by American psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason in the 1950s as a word that children taking the test would not have heard before.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /wʌɡ/
British English: /wʌɡ/

Inflected Forms

wugs (plural)

Phrases

Wug Test wug word

Rhymes With

drug bug plug hug miracle drug doug golden egg bug dug rug mug tug thug

Questions

How do you pronounce wug?: The recorded pronunciation is /wʌɡ/.
What does wug mean?: An imaginary creature resembling a bird, used in the Wug Test to investigate the acquisition of the plural form in English-speaking children.
Where does wug come from?: ] Coined ex nihilo by American psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason in the 1950s as a word that children taking the test would not have heard before.

How to pronounce wug

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