Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pickleball

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.63 in modern English

Syllables: pick-le-ball
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A racquet sport resembling tennis, played with solid paddles and a perforated ball, which combines elements of badminton, table tennis and wiffleball.

Uncountable

noun

The ball used in the sport of pickleball.

Countable

Example Sentences

"For the rapidly decreasing number of Americans who've never heard of pickleball, the obscure paddleball game is America's fastest growing sport for the second year in a row."
"It’s hard to say whether Corona was actually playing pickleball or was just nowhere near Slowjamastan at the time of the burglary and thinks it’s funny to say he was playing pickleball."
"Forget Yankees versus Red Sox: Today’s fiercest sports feud may be between tennis and pickleball, since the latter’s popularity soared during the pandemic."

Etymology

From pickle boat and ball. Coined by the sport inventor's wife who was reminded "of the pickle boat in rowing where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats." Similarly, the game initially used left-over equipment from badminton, table tennis, and wiffleball.

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Sports.

Inflected Forms

pickleballs (plural) pickle ball (alternative) pickle-ball (alternative)

Derived Forms

pickleballer pickler pukaball

Questions

What does pickleball mean?: A racquet sport resembling tennis, played with solid paddles and a perforated ball, which combines elements of badminton, table tennis and wiffleball.
Where does pickleball come from?: From pickle boat and ball. Coined by the sport inventor's wife who was reminded "of the pickle boat in rowing where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats." Similarly, the game initially used left-over equipment from badminton, table tennis, and wiffleball.

How to pronounce pickleball

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “pickleball”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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