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PlainSpell

prickly

adjective, adverb, noun

prickly is spelled P-R-I-C-K-L-Y: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, prickly means “Covered with sharp points” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in prickly?

Letters7: P-R-I-C-K-L-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th 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 prickly?

Prickly appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th 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 prickly?

Prickly has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-prickly.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of prickly

  • pricklier comparative
  • prickliest superlative
  • more prickly comparative
  • most prickly superlative
  • pricklies plural

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

What does prickly mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Covered with sharp points.

    The prickly pear is a cactus; you have to peel it before eating it to remove the spines and the tough skin.

  2. 2

    Easily irritated; thorny.

    He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.

  3. 3

    Difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny.

    It was a prickly situation.

adverb

  1. 1

    In a prickly manner.

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialSomething that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object.

  2. 2

    USA person who favours formal, structured, organized settings.

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

Prickly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchépineux (covered with sharp points), irritable, irascible (easily irritated)
Germanstachelig, dornig, Stachel- (covered with sharp points), reizbar, gereizt, kratzbürstig (easily irritated)
Portugueseespinhoso (covered with sharp points), irritadiço (easily irritated)
Spanishespinoso, espinudo, con espinas (covered with sharp points), irritable, malhumorado (easily irritated)

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 prickly come from?

From prickle + -y.

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

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