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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

mug.

A large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/mʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/mɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/məɡ/Wales/mʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. A large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.

  2. The face.

    derogatory · often · slang
  3. The mouth.

    derogatory · often · slang
    Shut your mug!
  4. A gullible or easily cheated person.

    derogatory · slang
    He's a gullible mug – he believed her again.
  5. A stupid or contemptible person.

    Australia · Hong-Kong · Ireland · New-Zealand · Singapore · UK · derogatory · slang
  6. A criminal.

    slang
  7. A mug shot.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).

verb/mʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/mɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/məɡ/Wales/mʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. To strike in the face.

    Ireland · UK · obsolete · transitive
  2. To assault for the purpose of robbery.

    transitive
  3. To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.

    intransitive
    The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.
  4. To photograph for identification; to take a mug shot of.

    transitive
  5. To learn or review a subject as much as possible in a short time; cram.

    Australia · Hong-Kong · India · Ireland · New-Zealand · Singapore · UK · slang
Where this word comes from

Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).

adj/mʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/mɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/məɡ/Wales/mʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. Uninteresting or unpleasant.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).

noun/mʌɡ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/mɐɡ/Australia, New-Zealand/məɡ/Wales/mʊɡ/Northern-England
  1. Motherfucker (usually in similes, e.g. "like a mug" or "as a mug")

    slang
Where this word comes from

Informal variant of motherfucker.

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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.