# pickle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɪkəl/ · frequency rank #17,443

## Definitions
1. A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.
2. Any vegetable preserved in vinegar and consumed as relish.
3. A sweet, vinegary pickled chutney popular in Britain.
4. The brine used for preserving food.
5. A difficult situation; peril.
6. A mildly mischievous loved one.
7. A rundown.
8. A children’s game with three participants that emulates a baseball rundown
9. A penis.
10. A pipe for smoking methamphetamine.
11. A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale, rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their colour.
12. In an optical landing system, the hand-held controller connected to the lens, or apparatus on which the lights are mounted.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **pile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pile)
- **pike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pike)
- **picks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-picks)
- **picky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-picky)
- **pickup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pickup)
- **pinkie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pinkie)
- **pimple** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pimple)
- **pickles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pickles)
- **pickled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-pickled)
- **prickly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pickle-vs-prickly)
- **pick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pickle)
- **picked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picked-vs-pickle)
- **picket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pickle)
- **picker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picker-vs-pickle)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ipckle`, `pcikle`, `picckle`, `pickel`, `pickkle`, `picklle`, `piclke`, `pikcle`, `ppickle`

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