# pitch

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɪt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #3,444

## Definitions
1. A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; sap.
2. A dark, extremely viscous material still remaining after distilling crude oil or natural tar.
3. Pitchstone.

## Etymology
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)".

## Easily confused with
- **pity** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pity)
- **Pitt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pitt)
- **pits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pits)
- **punch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-punch)
- **porch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-porch)
- **psych** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-psych)
- **pouch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pouch)
- **pooch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pooch)
- **Pitts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pitts)
- **poach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-poach)
- **pithy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pithy)
- **pitched** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pitched)
- **pitcher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pitcher)
- **pit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pit-vs-pitch)
- **pic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pic-vs-pitch)
- **pick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-pitch)
- **path** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/path-vs-pitch)
- **pics** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pics-vs-pitch)
- **pita** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pita-vs-pitch)
- **piece** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/piece-vs-pitch)

## Common misspellings (8)
`iptch`, `picth`, `pitcch`, `pitchh`, `pithc`, `pittch`, `ppitch`, `ptich`

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