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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

chug.

A dull, fairly quick explosive or percussive sound, as if made by a labouring engine.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/t͡ʃʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/t͡ʃɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/t͡ʃʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. A dull, fairly quick explosive or percussive sound, as if made by a labouring engine.

  2. A large gulp of drink.

    He drank his beer in three chugs.
  3. A homemade Cuban boat, built to carry emigrants to the USA, and often abandoned upon arrival.

  4. A person of Native American descent.

    derogatory · ethnic · slur
  5. A palm muted note on a distorted electric guitar.

Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic, in imitation of a working steam engine. The racial slur sense derives from the stereotype of Native Americans chugging alcohol.

verb/t͡ʃʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/t͡ʃɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/t͡ʃʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. To make dull explosive sounds.

    intransitive
  2. To move or travel whilst making such sounds.

    intransitive
    We were chugging along a back road when the engine cut out.
  3. To move or travel at a steady, although not especially fast, pace.

    broadly · intransitive
  4. To drink a large amount (especially of beer) in a single action/without breathing; to chugalug. Usually chanted at the person who is drinking.

    colloquial · transitive
    Chug! Chug! Chug!
    I can't believe he chugged three beers.
  5. To function or perform with difficulty, typically due to inadequate resources or performance limitations.

    intransitive
    My game chugs every time too many NPCs are onscreen.
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic, in imitation of a working steam engine. The racial slur sense derives from the stereotype of Native Americans chugging alcohol.

noun/t͡ʃʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/t͡ʃɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/t͡ʃʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. A dog that is a cross between a pug and a chihuahua.

Where this word comes from

Blend of chihuahua + pug.

verb/t͡ʃʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/t͡ʃɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/t͡ʃʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. To solicit charitable donations on the street, particularly in a persistent manner.

    UK · derogatory · slang · transitive
    I got chugged in the town centre today.
Where this word comes from

Blend of charity + mug (“to violently rob on the street”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.