tickle
/ˈtɪkl̩/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.24 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.
verb
To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which typically causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "I have a persistent tickle in my throat."
- "There's a very fine line between a tickle and an edge!"
- "Charts and Plans. [...] No. New Charts. 2253 England, and south coast—Dartmouth harbour. [...] 3320 Newfoundland, Thimble tickles and Glover harbour—Head of Seal bay."
- "Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it."
- "He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle."
- "If you tickle us, do we not laugh?"
Etymology
From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”). Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle). Both are ultimately sound-symbolic.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
tickles (plural)
tickles (present, singular)
tickling (participle, present)
tickled (participle, past)
tickled (past)
more tickle (comparative)
most tickle (superlative)