ickle

I1C3K5L1E1

noun

An icicle.

OriginMiddle English ikil ← Old English *ġicol ← Proto-West Germanic *jekul →
UncommonFirst used mid-19th c.Scrabble 11
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Meanings

ickle1

nounickle (plural ickles)

plural ickles · alternative eckle

  1. dialectalAn icicle.

ickle2

adjectiveickle (comparative ickler, superlative icklest)

comparative ickler · superlative icklest · alternative ikkle

  1. UKchildishLittle.First known use mid-19th c.

    Wasums and didums, then? Was it a ickle birdie, then?

    1919, Punch
    3 more examples

    Izzum's ickle heart a-beatin' so floppity! Um's own mumsy make ums all right, um's p'eshus Flopit!

    1917, Booth Tarkington, Seventeen

    Did she try to hit her ickle bruzzer on his nosie-posie wiz a mug?

    1919, Punch

    A Peke, the ickle angel pet, wiv his gweat big soulful eyes and his ickle black nosie — oh so ducky-duck!

    1936, George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
littlelowmodestpettysmallteenywiddlewittle

Origin

ickle · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁yeg-
  2. Proto-Germanic*jekulaz“piece of ice”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*jekul
  4. Old English*ġicol
  5. Middle Englishikil
  6. Englishickle

From Middle English ikil, ykle, from Old English *ġicol, ġiċel (“icicle, ice”), from Proto-West Germanic *jekul, *jikil, from Proto-Germanic *jekulaz (“piece of ice”), diminutive of *jekô (“lump of ice”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁yeg-. Cognate with Low German Jäkel (“icicle”), Danish egel (“icicle”), Norwegian Bokmål jøkel (“glacier, icesheet”), Norwegian Nynorsk jøkul, jøkle (“glacier, icicle”), Faroese jøkul (“glacier”), Icelandic jökull (“glacier”), Swedish jökel (“glacier”) and probably Albanian akull (“ice”) (Gheg okull). Doublet of jokul.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

ickle · adjective

Childish pronunciation of little.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ickle

ethicalnickelideologicalpickleticklesickletrickleficklecuticleBicklemicklechiclesticklebricklebricolefricklelikklepiculricklestrickle
All rhymes →

Anagrams

LeickCelikElick
Cite this entry
APA

ickle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ickle

MLA

“ickle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ickle. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ickle,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ickle.

Source: ickle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.