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PlainSpell

tweak

/twiːk/verb, noun

tweak is spelled T-W-E-A-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, tweak means “To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in tweak?

Letters5: T-W-E-A-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,356th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 tweak?

Tweak appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th 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 tweak?

  • /twiːk/

Tweak 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-au-tweak.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of tweak

  • tweaks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • tweaking participle, present
  • tweaked participle, past

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

What does tweak mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.

    to tweak the nose.

  2. 2

    informalTo adjust slightly; to fine-tune.

    If we tweak the colors towards blue, it will look more natural.

  3. 3

    To tease, to annoy; to get under the skin of (someone, typically so as to irritate them, or by extension to enamor, frighten, etc).

    Oh, he loved to tweak people and say things like "Hiya sweetums" to me because that was not exactly de rigueur in front of a bunch of strong feminists. He had this enormous sense of humor. I never knew what he was going to say.

  4. 4

    USslangTo abuse methamphetamines, especially crystal meth.

  5. 5

    USslangTo exhibit extreme nervousness, evasiveness when confronted by authorities, compulsiveness, erratic motion, excitability, etc, due to or mimicking the symptoms of methamphetamine abuse.

  6. 6

    slangTo be extremely confused; to have no clue what is happening.

    Am I tweaking or does 2020 feel like 6 months ago?

  7. 7

    From a catapult, to strike a target with a missile.

noun

  1. 1

    A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.

    a tweak of the nose

  2. 2

    A slight adjustment or modification.

    He is running so many tweaks it is hard to remember how it looked originally.

  3. 3

    Trouble; distress; tweag.

  4. 4

    obsoleteslangA prostitute.

  5. 5

    slangMethamphetamine.

  6. 6

    slangA single inhalation of cocaine.

  7. 7

    An additional input to a block cipher, used in conjunction with the key to select the permutation computed by the cipher.

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

Tweak in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtordre (to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist…), retoucher, ajuster, personnaliser, fignoler (to slightly adjust or modify), coup sec (sharp pinch or jerk; twist or twitch; as, a…)
Germanzwicken, kneifen (to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist…), retuschieren, anpassen, korrigieren (to slightly adjust or modify), piesacken (to tease, to annoy; to get under the skin of…)
Portugueseretocar (to slightly adjust or modify), ansiedade (trouble; distress; tweag), retoque (slight adjustment or modification)
Spanishretocar, afinar, refinar, personalizar (to slightly adjust or modify), retoque (slight adjustment or modification)

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 tweak come from?

From Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian (“to pluck”), from Proto-West Germanic *twekkōn (“to fasten; clamp; pinch”). Related to twitch. The drug-related sense may be a blend of twitch and freak.

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

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