Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

picks and shovels

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.94 in modern English

Syllables: pick-s and shov-els
IPA

30

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

3

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The crucial tools or ingredients for a booming industry or enterprise.

Example Sentences

"By offering advanced AI capabilities, bridging proprietary and public models, providing secure storage solutions and delivering generative AI services, these providers of "picks and shovels" stand to play instrumental roles in shaping the future of enterprise AI."
"They’re sort of a classic picks and shovels company that is making money by building the inputs to AI, but not actually training their own frontier models."

Etymology

From the expression “When everybody is digging for gold, it's good to be in the pick and shovel business” or a variation thereof.

Questions

What does picks and shovels mean?: The crucial tools or ingredients for a booming industry or enterprise.
Where does picks and shovels come from?: From the expression “When everybody is digging for gold, it's good to be in the pick and shovel business” or a variation thereof.

How to pronounce picks and shovels

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “picks and shovels”.
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