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PlainSpell

pickle

/ˈpɪkəl/noun, verb

pickle is spelled P-I-C-K-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pickle means “A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pickle is pickles.

How many letters and syllables are in pickle?

Letters6: P-I-C-K-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.5 times per million words; the 17,342nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 pickle?

Pickle appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd 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 pickle?

  • /ˈpɪkəl/
  • [ˈpɪkɫ̩]

Pickle 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: En-au-pickle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of pickle

  • pickles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • pickling participle, present
  • pickled participle, past

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

What does pickle mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    AustraliaCanadaUSA cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.

    A pickle goes well with a hamburger.

  2. 2

    Any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed as relish.

  3. 3

    UKA sweet, vinegary pickled chutney popular in Britain.

  4. 4

    The brine used for preserving food.

    This tub is filled with the pickle that we will put the small cucumbers into.

  5. 5

    informalA difficult situation; peril.

    The climber found himself in a pickle when one of the rocks broke off.

  6. 6

    A mildly mischievous loved one.

  7. 7

    A rundown.

    Jones was caught in a pickle between second and third.

  8. 8

    A children’s game with three participants that emulates a baseball rundown

    The boys played pickle in the front yard for an hour.

  9. 9

    ScotlandA kernel; a grain (of salt, sugar, etc.)

  10. 10

    ScotlandA small or indefinite quantity or amount (of something); a little, a bit, a few. Usually in partitive construction, frequently without "of"; a single grain or kernel of wheat, barley, oats, sand or dust.

verb

  1. 1

    To preserve food (or sometimes other things) in a salt, sugar or vinegar solution.

    We pickled the remainder of the crop.

  2. 2

    To remove high-temperature scale and oxidation from metal with heated (often sulphuric) industrial acid.

    The crew will pickle the fittings in the morning.

  3. 3

    To serialize.

  4. 4

    To pour brine over a person after flogging them, as a method of punishment.

    On Wednesday 26 May, […] I had [an enslaved man] flogged and pickled and then made Hector shit in his mouth. […] In July, […] Gave [another enslaved man] a moderate whipping, pickled him well, made Hector shit in his mouth, […]

  5. 5

    ScotlandTo eat sparingly.

  6. 6

    ScotlandTo pilfer.

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

Pickle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcornichon (preserved cucumber), pickles (any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed…), saler (to preserve food in a salt, sugar or vinegar…)
Germaneingelegte Gurke, saure Gurke, Essiggurke, Gewürzgurke (preserved cucumber), eingelegtes Gemüse (any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed…), Lake (brine used for preserving food)
Portuguesepicles (preserved cucumber), conservado, achar (any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed…), conservar, salmourar (to preserve food in a salt, sugar or vinegar…), salmoura (brine used for preserving food)
Spanishpepinillo (preserved cucumber), encurtido (any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed…), encurtir, escabechar, conservar (to preserve food in a salt, sugar or vinegar…)

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 pickle come from?

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

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

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