Word.ws English Dictionary

skeg

/skɛɡ/

skeg noun: a fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a propeller.

skeg: a fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a...
Image: Flickr user " wrench2.0 ", CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

skeg (plural skegs)

  1. A fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a propeller.
  2. A similar construction on a boat that acts as a keel.
  3. A fin that serves to stabilize a surfboard.
  4. (Australia, slang) A surfer; a person who leads a surfing lifestyle.
  5. (obsolete) A sort of wild plum (Prunus spinosa or Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (syn. Prunus institia)).
    • Some take them for Damascen plums, or rather for Bullois, Skegs, or such like wilde Plums.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book II.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […]...
  6. (obsolete) A kind of oat.
    • SKEGS. A kind of oat, sometimes cultivated as a crop in Nottinghamshire. It is the Avena stipiformis of Linnaeus.1842, Cuthbert William Johnson, The farmer's encyclopædia, and dictionary of rural affairs
  7. (Northern England) A look or glance.

Forms of skeg

pluralskegs

Origin of skeg

From a dialectal term for a stump, branch, or wooden peg. Compare shaw and Swedish skog.

Words that rhyme with skeg

19 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about skeg

What does skeg mean?
Skeg means a fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a propeller.
What part of speech is skeg?
Skeg is a noun.
How do you pronounce skeg?
Skeg is pronounced /skɛɡ/.
What is the plural of skeg?
The plural of skeg is skegs.

Words near skeg in the dictionary

  1. skeezy
  2. Skeffington
  3. Skeffington's daughter
  4. Skeffington's daughters
  5. Skeffingtons
  6. skeg
  7. Skegby
  8. skegger
  9. skeggers
  10. Skeggy
  11. Skegness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: skeg (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-skeg.ogg.

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