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PlainSpell

thick

/θɪk/adjective, adverb, noun, determiner

thick is spelled T-H-I-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “thicc vs thick” about 140 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, thick means “Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in thick?

Letters5: T-H-I-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is thick?

Thick appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 thick?

  • US /θɪk/
  • /θɘk/

Thick 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-thick.wav, En-us-thick.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with thick

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

thicc vs thick140 G

Sounds like: thicc (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: thicc.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with thick?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as thick from its last stressed vowel (/ɪk/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of thick

  • thicker comparative
  • thickest superlative
  • thicks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • thicking participle, present
  • thicked participle, past

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

What does thick mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.

  2. 2

    Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.

    I want some planks that are two inches thick.

  3. 3

    Heavy in build; thickset.

    He had such a thick neck that he had to turn his body to look to the side.

  4. 4

    Densely crowded or packed.

    We walked through thick undergrowth.

  5. 5

    Having a viscous consistency.

    My mum’s gravy was thick but at least it moved about.

  6. 6

    Abounding in number.

    The room was thick with reporters.

  7. 7

    Impenetrable to sight.

    We drove through thick fog.

  8. 8

    Greatly evocative of one's nationality or place of origin.

    He answered me in his characteristically thick Creole patois.

adverb

  1. 1

    In a thick manner.

    Snow lay thick on the ground.

  2. 2

    Frequently or numerously.

    The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

noun

  1. 1

    The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.

    It was mayhem in the thick of battle.

  2. 2

    A thicket.

  3. 3

    slangA stupid person; a fool.

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo thicken.

determiner

  1. 1

    Alternative form of thilk (“that same”).

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

How do you abbreviate thick?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of thick: thk..

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

Thick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchépais, gros (relatively great in extent from one surface to…), dense (densely crowded or packed)
Germandick (relatively great in extent from one surface to…), dicht (densely crowded or packed), plump (informal: stupid), mitten in (most active or intense part of something)
Portugueseespesso, grosso (relatively great in extent from one surface to…)
Spanishgrueso, espeso, colipavo, anchuroso (relatively great in extent from one surface to…), marcado (difficult to understand, poorly articulated)

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 thick come from?

From Middle English thikke, from Old English þicce (“thick, dense”), from Proto-West Germanic *þikkwī, from Proto-Germanic *þekuz (“thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *tégus (“thick”).

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

What to look up after thick