pike
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "pike", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "pike" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "pike" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
pike is aEnglishnoun. It means: A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults. Pronounced /paɪk/. Often confused with PK and pin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /paɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #11,580 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pike is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /paɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,580 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for pike, with forms such as "ipke", "piek", and "pikke". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PK", "pin", "pit", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (“pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak”), from Old English pīc (“pointed object, pick axe”), and Middle French pique (“long thrusting weapon”… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is pike, spelled P-I-K-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults.
- 2A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
- 3A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
- 4Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
- 5A position with the knees straight and a tight bend at the hips with the torso folded over the legs, usually part of a jack-knife.
- 6A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
- 7A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
- 8Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.
- 9A pick, a pickaxe.
- 10A hayfork.
- 11A penis.
Etymology
From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (“pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak”), from Old English pīc (“pointed object, pick axe”), and Middle French pique (“long thrusting weapon”), from Old French pic (“sharp point, spike”); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz, *pīkō (“sharp point, pike, peak”), related to pick with a narrower meaning. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch pecke, peke, picke (modern Dutch piek), German Pike, Norwegian pik, Danish pig, and possibly Old Irish pīk. It is a doublet of pique. The diving or gymnastics position is probably from tapered appearance of the body when the position is executed. The carnivorous freshwater fish is probably derived from the “sharp point, spike” senses, due to the fish’s pointed jaws. The verb sense “to quit or back out of a promise” may be from the sense of taking up pilgrim's staff or pike and leaving on a pilgrimage; and compare Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”) and Old Danish pikke af (“to go away”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ipke,piek,pikke,pkie,ppike
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for pike
Misspelling Variants of "pike"
Frequency rank: #11,580 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: