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PlainSpell

lick

/lɪk/verb, noun

lick is spelled L-I-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, lick means “To stroke with the tongue” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in lick?

Letters4: L-I-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.9 times per million words; the 10,028th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lick?

Lick appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th 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 lick?

  • US /lɪk/

Lick has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with lick?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lick from its last stressed vowel (/ɪk/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of lick

  • licks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • licking participle, present
  • licked participle, past

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

What does lick mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To stroke with the tongue.

    The cat licked its fur.

  2. 2

    To lap; to take in with the tongue.

    She licked the last of the honey off the spoon before washing it.

  3. 3

    colloquialdatedTo beat with repeated blows.

  4. 4

    colloquialdatedTo defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.

    My dad can lick your dad.

  5. 5

    colloquialdatedTo overcome.

    I think I can lick this.

  6. 6

    slangvulgarTo perform cunnilingus.

  7. 7

    colloquialTo do anything partially.

  8. 8

    To lap.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.

    The cat gave its fur a lick.

  2. 2

    The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick.

    Give me a lick of ice cream.

  3. 3

    A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue.

    a lick of paint

  4. 4

    A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.

    The birds gathered at the clay lick.

  5. 5

    A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.

    We used to play in the lick.

  6. 6

    colloquialA stroke or blow.

    Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.

  7. 7

    colloquialA small amount; a whit.

    You don't have a lick of sense.

  8. 8

    informalAn attempt at something.

  9. 9

    An instance or opportunity to earn money fast, usually by illegal means, thus a heist, drug deal etc. or its victim; mostly used in phrasal verbs: hit a lick, hit licks

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

Lick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlécher (to stroke with the tongue), défaire, vaincre (colloquial: to defeat decisively), léchage (act of licking)
Germanlecken (to stroke with the tongue), schlagen, besiegen (colloquial: to defeat decisively), Lecken (act of licking)
Portugueselamber (to stroke with the tongue), lambida (act of licking)
Spanishlamer, lamber, lambear, lambetear, lametear, relamer (to stroke with the tongue)

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 lick come from?

From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (“to lick”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language.

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

What to look up after lick