tyke
/taɪk/noun
tyke is spelled T-Y-K-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 79,518th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tyke means “A mongrel dog” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tyke is tykes.
How many letters and syllables are in tyke?
| Letters | 4: T-Y-K-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 79,518th 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 tyke?
Tyke appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 79,518th 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 tyke?
- /taɪk/
Tyke 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-tyke.ogg, En-au-Tyke.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of tyke
- tykes plural
- tike
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tyke mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A mongrel dog.
- 2
colloquialA small child, especially a cheeky or mischievous one.
- 3
CanadacolloquialDesignating an initiation level of sports competition for young children.
- 4
UKdatedAn uncultured, crude and unrefined or uncouth ill-bred person.
- 5
UKinformalA person from Yorkshire; a Yorkshireman or Yorkshirewoman.
noun
- 1
UKinformala Yorkshireman or Yorkshirewoman; a Yorkshire person
- 2
slangsomeone connected with Barnsley Football Club, as a fan, player, coach, etc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tyke in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 tyke come from?
From Middle English tike, tyke, from Old Norse tík (“female dog”), from Proto-Germanic *tīkō. Compare Icelandic tík, Faroese tík, and Swedish tik, all meaning “bitch, female dog”.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).