take the piss
"take-the-piss" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“take the piss” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To tease, ridicule or mock (someone).
Corpus desk
Index EN-take-the-piss · take the piss · English
take the piss · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | take the piss |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “take the piss” in English
Rare enough to double-check
take the piss is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for take the piss, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly from piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”). In which case taking the piss out of would mean deflating their false pride, usually through disparagement or mockery. As the piss-proud metaphor became dated, taking the piss out of someone cam… The correct English form is take the piss, spelled T-A-K-E- -T-H-E- -P-I-S-S.
Definition
- 1To tease, ridicule or mock (someone).
- 2To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt.
- 3To be outrageously unreasonable.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how take the piss appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You know, cos he was like taking the piss out of them and they took the piss out of him.
A lot of that stuff that people take the piss out of all the time is actually useful.
Etymology
Possibly from piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”). In which case taking the piss out of would mean deflating their false pride, usually through disparagement or mockery. As the piss-proud metaphor became dated, taking the piss out of someone came to refer to disparagement or mockery itself, regardless of the pride of the subject. Eventually the shortened, intransitive form taking the piss became common.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.