Meanings
plural kegs · alternative cag · alternative dialectal kag · alternative dialectal kager
- A round, traditionally wooden container of lesser capacity than a barrel, often used to store beer.
He bore on his shoulder a stout keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with his load.
1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 72
present singular third person kegs · participle present kegging · participle past kegged · past kegged · alternative cag · alternative dialectal kag · alternative dialectal kager
- transitiveTo store in a keg.
He gestured toward the empty chair and the other officers began passing him their kegged beef and ship's biscuit.
2011, Carla Kelly, Coming Home for Christmas, page 1161 more example
Many of us get impatient with the tedium of bottling after a year or two and start thinking about kegging our beers instead.
2015, Randy Mosher, Mastering Homebrew, page 228
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*kagô“bush, branch, stalk, stump”
- Old Norsekaggi“keg”
- Middle Englishkag
- Englishkeg
From Middle English kag, from Old Norse kaggi (“keg”), likely a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kagô (“bush, branch, stalk, stump”). Cognate with Icelandic kaggi (“keg; cask”), Norwegian kagg (“keg”), Swedish kagge (“keg”), Low German kag (“vessel; craft”), Dutch kaag (“vessel; craft”). Compare also English cag and chag. The modern form keg with /ɛ/ is due to a dialectal raising of /a///æ/ to /ɛ/ before velars (cf. fleg); the expected form is preserved in dialectal /kæɡ/, while /keɪɡ/ reflects further raising that occurred in some dialects.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian бъчонка, кег
- бъчонка (băčonka)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- кег (keg)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Catalan barril, bóta (barril en anglès)
- barrilround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- bóta (barril en anglès)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Chinese Mandarin 啤酒桶
- 啤酒桶 (píjiǔ tǒng)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Danish fad, fustage
- fadround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- fustageround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- tønderound container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Dutch vat, fust
- vatround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- fustround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Finnish tynnyri, lekkeri
- tynnyriround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- lekkeriround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
French tonnelet, baril
- tonneletround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- barilround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
German Fass
- Fassround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Hungarian hordó, hordócska
- hordóround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- hordócskaround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Icelandic legill
- legillround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Italian fusto, barile
- fustoround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- barileround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Norwegian Bokmål tønne
- tønneround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Persian چلیک, پیت
- چلیک (čelik)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- پیت (pit)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Polish antałek, antał
- antałekround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- antałround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Portuguese barrica, barrilete
- barricaround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- barrileteround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Russian бочо́нок
- бочо́нок (bočónok)round container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Spanish barril, cuñete
- barrilround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- cuñeteround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
- barrileteround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Swedish kagge
- kaggeround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Turkish fıçı
- fıçıround container of lesser capacity than a barrel
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with keg
Anagrams
Cite this entry
keg. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keg
“keg.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keg. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keg,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keg.
Source: keg on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.