prickle
/ˈpɹɪkəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.92 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A tingling sensation of mild discomfort.
noun
noun
A group of hedgehogs or porcupines.
Example Sentences
- "The plants that have prickles are, thorns, black and white, briar, rose, lemon-trees,[…]"
- "If I had but a pottle of Sacke, like a sharp prickle, / To knock my nose against when I am nodding"
- "The prickle is a brown willow basket, in which walnuts are imported into this country from the Continent; they are about thirty inches deep, and in bulk rather larger than a gallon measure; they are used only by the vendors of walnuts."
- "That honour belongs to a hairy-footed flower bee, a breeding pair of geese, some dragonfly nymphs, a flock of grey wagtails, a prickle of hedgehogs, an armada of newts, a flutter of spring butterflies and a “very cheeky” fox."
- "It may strike some people as odd, a father-daughter gift of a porcupine (and a dead one, at that), but a prickle of porcupines had become quite the pests around his farm, damaging things and gnawing the bark off of many of the trees."
- "Our prickle of porcupines has grown"
Etymology
From Middle English prykkyl, prykyl, from Old English pricel, pricels, pricle (“a prickle, sharp point, bit”), from a conflation of Proto-West Germanic *prikislī and *prikil (“prickle”). By surface analysis, prick + -le. Cognate with West Frisian prikel (“goad, prickle”), Dutch prikkel (“sting, prickle, stimulus”), German Low German Prekel (“wooden stick, poker”), Saterland Frisian prikkelje (“to propel, spur on, goad”). First attested in the Old English period.
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: First attested in the Old English period
Word Breakdown
- Root: prykkyl, pricel, *prikislī