pitch
/pɪt͡ʃ/noun, verb, adjective
pitch is spelled P-I-T-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pitch means “A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pitch is pitches.
How many letters and syllables are in pitch?
| Letters | 5: P-I-T-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 27 times per million words; the 3,422nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 pitch?
Pitch appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd 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 pitch?
- /pɪt͡ʃ/
Pitch 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-pitch.ogg, En-au-pitch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pitch
- pitches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pitching participle, present
- pitched participle, past
- pitcher comparative
- pitchest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pitch mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap.
It is hard to get this pitch off my hand.
- 2
Anything similar to or derived from tree sap: resin; rosin.
- 3
A dark, extremely viscous material still remaining after distilling crude oil or natural tar.
Near-synonyms: tar, coal tar, asphalt, bitumen
- 4
Pitchstone.
- 5
A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
a good pitch in quoits
- 6
The act of pitching a baseball.
The pitch was low and inside.
- 7
AustraliaUKThe field on which cricket, soccer, rugby, gridiron or field hockey is played. (In cricket, the pitch is in the centre of the field; see cricket pitch.) (Not often used in the US or Canada, where "field" is the preferred word.)
The teams met on the pitch.
- 8
A short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.
- 9
rareThe field of battle.
- 10
An effort to sell or promote something.
He gave me a sales pitch.
- 11
The distance between evenly spaced objects, e.g. the teeth of a saw or gear, the turns of a screw thread, the centres of holes, or letters in a monospace font.
The pitch of pixels on the point scale is 72 pixels per inch.
- 12
The angle at which an object sits.
the pitch of the roof or haystack
- 13
The perceived frequency of a sound, note or electromagnetic wave.
The pitch of middle "C" is familiar to many musicians.
- 14
The standard to which a group of musical instruments are tuned or in which a piece is performed, usually by reference to the frequency to which the musical note A above middle C is tuned.
Are we in baroque pitch for this one?
- 15
In an a cappella group, the singer responsible for singing a note for the other members to tune themselves by.
Bob, our pitch, let out a clear middle "C" and our conductor gave the signal to start.
verb
- 1
To cover or smear with pitch.
- 2
To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
- 3
To throw.
He pitched the horseshoe.
- 4
To throw (the ball) toward a batter at home plate.
The hurler pitched a curveball.
- 5
To play baseball in the position of pitcher.
Bob pitches today.
- 6
To throw away; discard.
He pitched the candy wrapper.
- 7
To promote, advertise, or attempt to sell.
He pitched the idea for months with no takers.
- 8
To deliver in a certain tone or style, or with a certain audience in mind.
At which level should I pitch my presentation?
- 9
To assemble or erect (a tent). Also used figuratively.
Pitch the tent over there.
- 10
To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.
- 11
To produce a note of a given pitch.
- 12
To fix or set the tone of.
adjective
- 1
Very dark black; pitch-black.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:pitch.
- 2
Intense, deep, dark.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pitch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | résine, sève, poix , brai , tir, jet |
| German | Harz, Pech , Wurf , Sportplatz , Verkaufsgespräch , Teilung |
| Portuguese | seiva, breu , piche, pez , arremesso , campo |
| Spanish | brea, pez, zopisa, galipote, resina , tiro |
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 pitch come from?
From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa, “pitch, tar”), Latin pīnus (“pine”). More at pine. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pik (“pitch, tar”), Dutch pek (“pitch, tar”), German Low German Pick (“pitch, tar”), German Pech (“pitch, tar”), Catalan pega (“pitch”), Spanish pegar (“to stick, glue”), Franco-Provençal pouatche (“sap from a pine”) and French poix (“sap”). The adjective is probably back-formed from pitch-black, reinterpreting "pitch" as meaning "intense(ly)".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).