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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pick.

A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pɪk/[pʰɪk]
  1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.

  2. An anchor.

    slang
  3. A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

  4. A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.

  5. A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.

  6. A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.

  7. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.

    obsolete
  8. A choice; ability to choose.

  9. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.

  10. Pasture; feed, for animals.

    Australia
  11. A screen.

  12. An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.

  13. An interception.

  14. A good defensive play by an infielder.

  15. A pickoff.

  16. A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.

    dated
  17. That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.

  18. The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.

    so many picks to an inch
Where this word comes from

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).

verb/pɪk/[pʰɪk]
  1. To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.

    Don't pick at that scab.
    He picked his nose.
  2. To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.

    It's time to pick the tomatoes.
  3. To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.

    She picked flowers in the meadow.
    to pick feathers from a fowl
  4. To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.

    to pick rags
  5. To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.

    to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket
  6. To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.

    I'll pick the one with the nicest name.
  7. To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.

    transitive
  8. To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.

    He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.
  9. To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.

    He picked a tune on his banjo.
  10. To open (a lock) with a wire, lock pick, etc.

  11. To eat slowly, sparingly, or by morsels; to nibble.

  12. To do anything fastidiously or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.

    I gingerly picked my way between the thorny shrubs.
  13. To steal; to pilfer.

  14. To throw; to pitch.

    obsolete
  15. To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.

    dated · transitive
  16. To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points.

    ambitransitive
    to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
  17. To screen.

  18. To intercept a pass from the offense as a defensive player.

    informal
    The pass was almost picked, but the tight end was able to hold on.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).

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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.