ticking
/ˈtɪkɪŋ/noun, verb
ticking is spelled T-I-C-K-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ticking means “A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ticking is tickings.
How many letters and syllables are in ticking?
| Letters | 7: T-I-C-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.9 times per million words; the 15,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 ticking?
Ticking appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th 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 ticking?
- /ˈtɪkɪŋ/
Ticking 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)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-ticking.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ticking
- tickings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ticking mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
- 2
A sound of something that ticks. (For example, the second hand on a clock face.)
- 3
An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.
- 4
A marking that occurs on some horses, involving white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano, sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of tick
a ticking time bomb
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ticking in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a strong cotton or linen fabric:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | terliz |
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 ticking come from?
From tick (“sheet, cover”) + -ing (“material, collection”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).