nitpick
/ˈnɪt.pɪk/
"nitpick" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nitpick” is an uncommon English word, ranked #81,628 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #81,628
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To correct insignificant mistakes or find fault in unimportant details.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nitpick |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈnɪt.pɪk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #81,628 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nitpick” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nitpick is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnɪt.pɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #81,628 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for nitpick, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From nit + pick, originally referring to literally removing invisibly tiny louse eggs by hand. The correct English form is nitpick, spelled N-I-T-P-I-C-K.
Definition
- 1To correct insignificant mistakes or find fault in unimportant details.
- 2To pick nits (lice eggs) from someone’s hair.
- 3To pick nits (lice eggs) from someone’s hair. I nitpicked his hair.
Etymology
From nit + pick, originally referring to literally removing invisibly tiny louse eggs by hand.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “nitpick”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-T-P-I-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɪt.pɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.