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PlainSpell

pinch

/pɪnt͡ʃ/verb, noun

pinch is spelled P-I-N-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, pinch means “To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in pinch?

Letters5: P-I-N-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th 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 pinch?

Pinch appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 pinch?

  • /pɪnt͡ʃ/

Pinch has one syllable (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-us-pinch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of pinch

  • pinches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • pinching participle, present
  • pinched participle, past
  • θ-pinches plural

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

What does pinch mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

    The children were scolded for pinching each other.

  2. 2

    To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.

  3. 3

    To squeeze between two objects.

  4. 4

    Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.

  5. 5

    slangTo steal, usually something inconsequential.

    Someone has pinched my handkerchief!

  6. 6

    slangTo arrest or capture.

  7. 7

    To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.

  8. 8

    To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.

noun

  1. 1

    The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

  2. 2

    A close compression of anything with the fingers.

    I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.

  3. 3

    A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.

    Mix about four cups of white flour with a pinch of salt.

  4. 4

    An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.

  5. 5

    A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.

  6. 6

    An organic herbal smoke additive.

  7. 7

    A magnetic compression of an electrically conducting filament.

  8. 8

    The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.

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

Pinch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpincer (to squeeze a small amount of skin), chiper (to steal), pincement (action of squeezing a small amount of skin), pincée (small amount of powder)
Germankneifen, zwicken (to squeeze a small amount of skin), stehlen, abpressen, entwenden (to steal), schnappen (to arrest or capture)
Portuguesebeliscar (to squeeze a small amount of skin), roubar (to steal), beliscada, beliscão (action of squeezing a small amount of skin), pitada (ex: uma pitada de sal) (small amount of powder), aperto (difficult situation)
Spanishpellizcar, repizcar, peñiscar, peñizcar (to squeeze a small amount of skin), afanar (to steal), pellizco (action of squeezing a small amount of skin)

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 pinch come from?

From Middle English pinchen, from Old Northern French *pinchier (compare Old French pincier, pincer (“to pinch”)), a word of uncertain origin, possibly from Vulgar Latin *pinciāre (“to puncture, pinch”), from a merger of *punctiāre (“to puncture, sting”), from Latin punctiō (“a puncture, prick”) and *piccāre (“to strike, sting”), from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick”). More at point, pick and pitch.

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

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