trickle
/ˈtɹɪkəl/noun, verb
trickle is spelled T-R-I-C-K-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, trickle means “A very thin river” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of trickle is trickles.
How many letters and syllables are in trickle?
| Letters | 7: T-R-I-C-K-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,906th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is trickle?
Trickle appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th 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 trickle?
- /ˈtɹɪkəl/
Trickle 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)-Vealhurl-trickle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with trickle?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as trickle.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: tickler.
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 trickle
- trickles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- trickling participle, present
- trickled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does trickle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A very thin river.
The brook had shrunk to a mere trickle.
- 2
A very thin flow; the sound of such a flow.
The tap of the washbasin in my bedroom is leaking and the trickle drives me mad at night.
verb
- 1
to pour a liquid in a very thin stream, or so that drops fall continuously.
The doctor trickled some iodine on the wound.
- 2
to flow in a very thin stream or drop continuously.
Here the water just trickles along, but later it becomes a torrent.
- 3
To move or roll slowly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Trickle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | filet , dégoulinade , verser goutte à goutte , dégouliner, ruisseler |
| German | Rinnsal , Tröpfeln, Getröpfel , tröpfeln, träufeln , rieseln |
| Spanish | riachuelo , chorreo, chiringuito, goteo, instilación , instilar |
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 trickle come from?
From Middle English triklen, likely a rebracketing (e.g. teres strikled > teerys trikled (“tears trickled”)) of Middle English striklen (“to trickle”), equivalent to strike + -le. For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, nickname, orange, umpire.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).