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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

flagellate.

To whip or scourge.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈflæ.d͡ʒəˌleɪt/US
  1. To whip or scourge.

    transitive
  2. To harshly chide or chastise, to reprimand.

    idiomatic · transitive
  3. Of a spermatozoon, to move its tail back and forth.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₂-? Proto-Indo-European *-rós Latin flagrum Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lum Latin flagellum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin flagellō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Latin flagellātuslbor. English flagellate First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin flagellātus perfect passive participle of flagellō (“to whip, flog”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

adj/fləˈd͡ʒɛ.lət/US
  1. Resembling a whip.

  2. Having flagella.

Where this word comes from

First attested in 1867; from flagellum + -ate (adjective-forming suffix) as well as Latin flagellum + -ate. The noun was substantivized from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

noun/fləˈd͡ʒɛ.lət/US
  1. Any organism that has flagella.

Where this word comes from

First attested in 1867; from flagellum + -ate (adjective-forming suffix) as well as Latin flagellum + -ate. The noun was substantivized from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

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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.