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pitch.

A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap.

    countable · uncountable
    It is hard to get this pitch off my hand.
  2. A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap. Anything similar to or derived from tree sap: resin; rosin.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A dark, extremely viscous material still remaining after distilling crude oil or natural tar.

    countable · uncountable
    They put pitch on the mast to protect it.
    The barrel was sealed with pitch.
  4. Pitchstone.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa, “pitch, tar”), Latin pīnus (“pine”). More at pine. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pik (“pitch, tar”), Dutch pek (“pitch, tar”), German Low German Pick (“pitch, tar”), German Pech (“pitch, tar”), Catalan pega (“pitch”), Spanish pegar (“to stick, glue”), Franco-Provençal pouatche (“sap from a pine”) and French poix (“sap”). The adjective is probably back-formed from pitch-black, reinterpreting "pitch" as meaning "intense(ly)".

verb/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. To cover or smear with pitch.

  2. To darken; to blacken; to obscure.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa, “pitch, tar”), Latin pīnus (“pine”). More at pine. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pik (“pitch, tar”), Dutch pek (“pitch, tar”), German Low German Pick (“pitch, tar”), German Pech (“pitch, tar”), Catalan pega (“pitch”), Spanish pegar (“to stick, glue”), Franco-Provençal pouatche (“sap from a pine”) and French poix (“sap”). The adjective is probably back-formed from pitch-black, reinterpreting "pitch" as meaning "intense(ly)".

adj/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. Very dark black; pitch-black.

  2. Intense, deep, dark.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa, “pitch, tar”), Latin pīnus (“pine”). More at pine. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pik (“pitch, tar”), Dutch pek (“pitch, tar”), German Low German Pick (“pitch, tar”), German Pech (“pitch, tar”), Catalan pega (“pitch”), Spanish pegar (“to stick, glue”), Franco-Provençal pouatche (“sap from a pine”) and French poix (“sap”). The adjective is probably back-formed from pitch-black, reinterpreting "pitch" as meaning "intense(ly)".

noun/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.

    countable · uncountable
    a good pitch in quoits
  2. The act of pitching a baseball.

    countable · uncountable
    The pitch was low and inside.
  3. The field on which cricket, soccer, rugby, gridiron or field hockey is played. (In cricket, the pitch is in the centre of the field; see cricket pitch.) (Not often used in the US or Canada, where "field" is the preferred word.)

    Australia · New-Zealand · UK · countable · uncountable
    The teams met on the pitch.
  4. A short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The field of battle.

    countable · rare · uncountable
  6. An effort to sell or promote something.

    countable · uncountable
    He gave me a sales pitch.
  7. The distance between evenly spaced objects, e.g. the teeth of a saw or gear, the turns of a screw thread, the centres of holes, or letters in a monospace font.

    countable · uncountable
    The pitch of pixels on the point scale is 72 pixels per inch.
    The pitch of this saw is perfect for that type of wood.
  8. The angle at which an object sits.

    countable · uncountable
    the pitch of the roof or haystack
  9. The rotation angle about the transverse axis. The degree to which a vehicle, especially a ship or aircraft, rotates on such an axis, tilting its bow or nose up or down.

    countable · uncountable
    the pitch of an aircraft
  10. The rotation angle about the transverse axis. A measure of the angle of attack of a propeller.

    countable · uncountable
    The propeller blades' pitch went to 90° as the engine was feathered.
  11. An area in a market (or similar) allocated to a particular trader.

    countable · uncountable
  12. The place where a busker performs, a prostitute solicits clients, or an illegal gambling game etc. is set up before the public.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
  13. An area on a campsite intended for occupation by a single tent, caravan or similar.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A level or degree, or (by extension), a peak or highest degree.

    countable · uncountable
  15. A point or peak; the extreme point of elevation or depression.

    countable · uncountable
  16. The most thrust-out point of a headland or cape.

    countable · uncountable
  17. Collectively, the outermost points of some part of the body, especially the shoulders or hips.

    obsolete · uncountable
  18. The height a bird reaches in flight, especially a bird of prey preparing to swoop down on its prey.

    countable · uncountable
  19. A person's or animal's height.

    UK · countable · regional · uncountable
  20. Prominence; importance.

    countable · uncountable
  21. A section of a climb or rock face; specifically, the climbing distance between belays or stances.

    countable · uncountable
  22. A vertical cave passage, only negotiable by using rope or ladders.

    countable · uncountable
    The entrance pitch requires 30 metres of rope.
  23. That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.

    countable · uncountable
  24. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.

    countable · uncountable
  25. The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant.

    countable · uncountable
    a steep pitch in the road
    the pitch of a roof
  26. The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.

    countable · uncountable
  27. An American trick-taking card game.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick.

verb/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. To throw.

    transitive
    He pitched the horseshoe.
  2. To throw (the ball) toward a batter at home plate.

    intransitive · transitive
    The hurler pitched a curveball.
    He pitched high and inside.
  3. To play baseball in the position of pitcher.

    intransitive
    Bob pitches today.
  4. To throw away; discard.

    transitive
    He pitched the candy wrapper.
  5. To promote, advertise, or attempt to sell.

    transitive
    He pitched the idea for months with no takers.
  6. To deliver in a certain tone or style, or with a certain audience in mind.

    transitive
    At which level should I pitch my presentation?
  7. To assemble or erect (a tent). Also used figuratively.

    transitive
    Pitch the tent over there.
  8. To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.

    intransitive
  9. To move so that the front of an aircraft or boat goes alternately up and down.

    ambitransitive
    The typhoon pitched the deck of the ship.
    The airplane pitched.
  10. To set at an angle, especially a downwards one; to cause to tilt.

    transitive
  11. To play a short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.

    transitive
    The only way to get on the green from here is to pitch the ball over the bunker.
  12. To bounce on the playing surface.

    intransitive
    The ball pitched well short of the batsman.
  13. To settle and build up, without melting.

    intransitive
  14. To alight; to settle; to come to rest from flight.

    archaic · intransitive
  15. To fix one's choice.

  16. To plunge or fall; especially, to fall forward; to decline or slope.

    intransitive
    to pitch from a precipice
    The field pitches toward the east.
  17. To set, face, or pave (an embankment or roadway) with rubble or undressed stones.

    transitive
  18. To set or fix (a price or value).

    transitive
  19. To discard (a card) for some gain.

    slang · transitive
  20. To attack, or position or assemble for attack.

  21. To add yeast as a step while making beer

Where this word comes from

From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick.

noun/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. The perceived frequency of a sound, note or electromagnetic wave.

    countable · uncountable
    The pitch of middle "C" is familiar to many musicians.
  2. The standard to which a group of musical instruments are tuned or in which a piece is performed, usually by reference to the frequency to which the musical note A above middle C is tuned.

    countable · uncountable
    Are we in baroque pitch for this one?
  3. In an a cappella group, the singer responsible for singing a note for the other members to tune themselves by.

    countable · uncountable
    Bob, our pitch, let out a clear middle "C" and our conductor gave the signal to start.
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Perhaps from the above sense of "inclination", "level", or "degree", or influenced by it.

verb/pɪt͡ʃ/
  1. To produce a note of a given pitch.

    intransitive
  2. To fix or set the tone of.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Perhaps from the above sense of "inclination", "level", or "degree", or influenced by it.

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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.