Word.ws English Dictionary

degen

/ˈdeɪɡən/

degen noun: sword.

Noun (1)

degen (plural degens)

  1. (UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) Sword.
    • "Crash the cull—down with him—down with him before he dubs the jigger. Tip him the degen, Fib, fake him through and through; if he pikes we shall all be scragged."1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter XXVIII, in Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, volume 1, New York: J. & J. Harper, page 228

Adjective

IPA/ˈdiːd͡ʒɛn/

degen (comparative more degen, superlative most degen)

  1. (Internet) Degenerate.

Noun (2)

IPA/ˈdiːd͡ʒɛn/

degen (plural degens)

  1. (Internet) A degenerate.
    • Discussions of the word are littered with quotes from the Canadian comedy “Letterkenny,” whose rural Ontario characters are plagued by uncouth “degens from upcountry.”2026 July 9, Nitsuh Abebe, “Has There Ever Been a Better Time to Be a ‘Degenerate’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Proper noun capitalized: Degen

Degen (plural Degens)

  1. A surname from German.

Forms of degen

Noun
pluraldegens
alternative formdegan
alternative formdagen
Adjective
comparativemore degen
superlativemost degen
alternative formdgen
Proper noun
pluralDegens

Origin of degen

From German Degen (“dagger”).

Clipping of degenerate.

* As a German and Alemannic German surname, from the noun Degen (“boy warrior, hero”). * As a German and Dutch surname, shortened from names like Degenhard, Degenhold, etc., with the same meaning as the above. In isolated cases it can also be from Degen (“rapier”), for someone who made or wore such weapons, and from Middle High German dechen (“dean”, modern German Dechant).

Words that rhyme with degen

Questions about degen

What does degen mean?
Degen means sword.
What part of speech is degen?
Degen can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce degen?
Degen is pronounced /ˈdeɪɡən/.
What is the plural of degen?
The plural of degen is degens.

Words near degen in the dictionary

  1. Degema
  2. degeminate
  3. degeminated
  4. degemination
  5. degeminations
  6. degen
  7. degender
  8. degendered
  9. degendering
  10. degenderisation
  11. degenderise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: degen (page history and authors); Degen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “degen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/degen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.