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tick

/tɪk/noun, verb

tick is spelled T-I-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “tic vs tick” about 590 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, tick means “A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tick is ticks.

How many letters and syllables are in tick?

Letters4: T-I-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th 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 tick?

Tick appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th 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 tick?

  • US /tɪk/
  • /tək/

Tick 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: En-us-tick.ogg, En-au-tick.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with tick

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

tic vs tick590 G

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

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

What rhymes with tick?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tick 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 tick

  • ticks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ticking participle, present
  • ticked participle, past

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

What does tick mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

  2. 2

    A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.

    The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.

  3. 3

    A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.

    At midday, the long bond is up a tick.

  4. 4

    A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).

  5. 5

    colloquialA short period of time, particularly a second.

    I'll be back in a tick.

  6. 6

    A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.

  7. 7

    Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.

  8. 8

    CommonwealthA mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement.

    Indicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box

  9. 9

    A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.

  10. 10

    Ticking.

  11. 11

    A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.

  12. 12

    UKcolloquialCredit, trust.

  13. 13

    obsoleteA goat.

    Tickhill, Tickham, Ticknock, Tickenhall Drive, Tickenhill Manor, Tickenhurst

verb

  1. 1

    To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands of an analog clock.

  2. 2

    To make a tick or checkmark.

  3. 3

    informalTo work or operate, especially mechanically.

    He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.

  4. 4

    To strike gently; to pat.

  5. 5

    To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).

  6. 6

    To go on trust, or credit.

  7. 7

    To give tick; to trust.

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

Tick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtique (arachnid), tic-tac (quiet but sharp, repeated sound), graduation (mark of measurement), seconde (short period of time), marque, coche (checkmark)
GermanZecke, Zeck (arachnid), Häkchen (checkmark), ticken (make a clicking noise), abhaken, ankreuzen (make a tick mark)
Portuguesecarrapato, carraça (arachnid), tique (quiet but sharp, repeated sound), fazer tique-taque (make a clicking noise), ticar (make a tick mark)
Spanishgarrapata, rezno, sanchina, cabarra (arachnid), tictac (quiet but sharp, repeated sound), grado (mark of measurement)

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 tick come from?

From Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīkō, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.

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

What to look up after tick