Wordwyrt

prickly

/ˈpɹɪkli/PRIH-klee
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked
/ˈpɹɪkli/PRIH-klee

Meaningfull of pricks

Common meaning: covered with sharp points

Other meanings: easily annoyed

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Journey through time

  1. Old Englishpricusource
  2. Middle Englishprikesource
  3. Englishprick‘a small sharp point’
  4. Englishformed in English from prickprickly‘covered with sharp points’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from prick + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PRICK, p.466 · scan

Source words

  • pricu Old English · source word “a point, a dot”

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