chickadee
/ˈt͡ʃɪk.əˌdi/noun
chickadee is spelled C-H-I-C-K-A-D-E-E: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 73,203rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, chickadee means “Any of the small, mostly black and white North American songbirds of the genus Poecile of the family Paridae” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of chickadee is chickadees.
How many letters and syllables are in chickadee?
| Letters | 9: C-H-I-C-K-A-D-E-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 73,203rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is chickadee?
Chickadee appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 73,203rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce chickadee?
- /ˈt͡ʃɪk.əˌdi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-chickadee.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-chickadee.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of chickadee
- chickadees plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chickadee mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CanadaUSAny of the small, mostly black and white North American songbirds of the genus Poecile of the family Paridae.
- 2
Affectionate term of address.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Chickadee in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense songbird:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does chickadee come from?
Apparent onomatopoeia from these birds' calls having a distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sound, possibly influenced by chick or chicken.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).