Skip to main content
PlainSpell

ick

/ɪk/interjection, noun, adjective

ick is spelled I-C-K: 3 letters. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 50,539th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an interjection, ick means “An exclamation of disgust” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in ick?

Letters3: I-C-K
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 50,539th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 ick?

Ick appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 50,539th 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 ick?

  • /ɪk/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ick.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with ick

Also written: ich.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of ick

  • icks plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ick mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

interjection

  1. 1

    An exclamation of disgust.

    Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!

noun

  1. 1

    informalSomething distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.

  2. 2

    informalA feeling of revulsion.

    to have the ick

  3. 3

    slangAnything moaned about; a gripe.

  4. 4

    Alternative form of ich (“fish disease”).

adjective

  1. 1

    informalIcky; distasteful or unpleasant.

noun

as ICK
  1. 1

    Initialism of inhibitor cystine knot.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Where does ick come from?

Probably imitative. First use appears c. 1942.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ick