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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pickle.

A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɪkəl/[ˈpɪkɫ̩]
  1. A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.

    Australia · Canada · US · countable · uncountable
    A pickle goes well with a hamburger.
  2. Any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed as relish.

    countable · in-plural · often · uncountable
  3. A sweet, vinegary pickled chutney popular in Britain.

    UK · countable · uncountable
  4. The brine used for preserving food.

    countable · uncountable
    This tub is filled with the pickle that we will put the small cucumbers into.
  5. A difficult situation; peril.

    countable · informal · uncountable
    The climber found himself in a pickle when one of the rocks broke off.
  6. A mildly mischievous loved one.

    countable · endearing · uncountable
  7. A rundown.

    countable · uncountable
    Jones was caught in a pickle between second and third.
  8. A children’s game with three participants that emulates a baseball rundown

    uncountable
    The boys played pickle in the front yard for an hour.
  9. A penis.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  10. A pipe for smoking methamphetamine.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    Load some shards in that pickle.
  11. A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale, rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their colour.

    countable · uncountable
  12. In an optical landing system, the hand-held controller connected to the lens, or apparatus on which the lights are mounted.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

verb/ˈpɪkəl/[ˈpɪkɫ̩]
  1. To preserve food (or sometimes other things) in a salt, sugar or vinegar solution.

    ergative · transitive
    We pickled the remainder of the crop.
    These cucumbers pickle very well.
  2. To remove high-temperature scale and oxidation from metal with heated (often sulphuric) industrial acid.

    transitive
    The crew will pickle the fittings in the morning.
  3. To serialize.

  4. To pour brine over a person after flogging them, as a method of punishment.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

noun/ˈpɪkəl/[ˈpɪkɫ̩]
  1. A kernel; a grain (of salt, sugar, etc.)

    Northern-England · Scotland
  2. A small or indefinite quantity or amount (of something); a little, a bit, a few. Usually in partitive construction, frequently without "of"; a single grain or kernel of wheat, barley, oats, sand or dust.

    Northern-England · Scotland
Where this word comes from

Perhaps from Scottish pickle, apparently from pick + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Scots pickil.

verb/ˈpɪkəl/[ˈpɪkɫ̩]
  1. To eat sparingly.

    Northern-England · Scotland · ambitransitive
  2. To pilfer.

    Northern-England · Scotland · ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

Perhaps from Scottish pickle, apparently from pick + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Scots pickil.

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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.