Clogged

How to spell clogged

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce clogged

What does clogged mean?

1. verbPast tense of clog: became blocked or obstructed, especially by an accumulation of material.
2. adjectiveBlocked or obstructed so that nothing can pass through freely.

Clogged in a sentence

• verb

  Grease and food scraps had clogged the kitchen sink overnight.

• adjective

  The clogged filter reduced the airflow through the vacuum cleaner.

• verb

  The printer clogged when too much paper jammed in the tray.

• adjective

  A clogged artery can seriously restrict blood flow.

Where does clogged come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'clog' first appears in Middle English around the 1300s, originally meaning a heavy block of wood. People literally tied such a block to an animal's leg to stop it wandering, so 'clog' came to mean 'to hinder, encumber or weigh down'. From that idea of obstruction grew the modern sense of something becoming blocked or choked up, as when a pipe fills with debris. The wooden footwear called 'clogs' shares the same root, named for their solid wooden soles. The past form doubles the final consonant, giving 'clogged', because the single short vowel before it demands the doubled g, which is the small spelling point worth remembering.

How the word is built

• clog (to block or obstruct)
• -ged (past tense / past participle, with doubled g after a short vowel)