stickleback
noun
stickleback is spelled S-T-I-C-K-L-E-B-A-C-K: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 119,826th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stickleback means “Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stickleback is sticklebacks.
How many letters and syllables are in stickleback?
| Letters | 11: S-T-I-C-K-L-E-B-A-C-K |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 16 million words; the 119,826th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is stickleback?
Stickleback appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 119,826th 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).
Forms of stickleback
- sticklebacks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stickleback mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct nests from weeds.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stickleback in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fish of the family Gasterosteidae:
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 stickleback come from?
From dialectal stickle (“a prickle, spine, sting”), from Old English sticel + bæc. See stick (transitive verb) and compare banstickle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).