pecking
/ˈpɛkɪŋ/noun, verb
pecking is spelled P-E-C-K-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pecking means “The act by which something is pecked” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pecking is peckings.
How many letters and syllables are in pecking?
| Letters | 7: P-E-C-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is pecking?
Pecking appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th 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 pecking?
- /ˈpɛkɪŋ/
Pecking has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pecking.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pecking
- peckings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pecking mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act by which something is pecked.
the peckings of hungry chickens
- 2
The ancient skill of shaping stone into tools, containers, or artworks.
- 3
obsoleteThe game of throwing pebbles at birds.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of peck
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).