# pick

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɪk/ · frequency rank #881

## Definitions
1. A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.
2. An anchor.
3. A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
4. A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.
5. A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.
6. A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.
7. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.
8. A choice; ability to choose.
9. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best.
10. Pasture; feed, for animals.
11. A screen.
12. An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
13. An interception.
14. A good defensive play by an infielder.
15. A pickoff.
16. A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.
17. That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.
18. The blow that drives the shuttle, used in calculating the speed of a loom (in picks per minute); hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread.

## Etymology
From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck.
Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).

## Easily confused with
- **PK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pk)
- **pin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pin)
- **pit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pit)
- **pie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pie)
- **pig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pig)
- **PLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-plc)
- **pip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pip)
- **PVC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pvc)
- **POC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-poc)
- **PRC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-prc)
- **PKK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pkk)
- **PWC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pwc)
- **PID** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pid)
- **PNC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pnc)
- **PSC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-psc)
- **Pil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pil)
- **pix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pix)
- **pir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pir)
- **PMC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pmc)
- **pink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pink)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ipck`, `pcik`, `picck`, `pickk`, `pikc`, `ppick`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pick