pightle
pightle noun: a small piece of enclosed land, often by a hedge. Some authorities also indicate that a pightle tends to be associated with a house or messuage.
Noun
pightle (plural pightles)
Forms of pightle
| plural | pightles |
|---|---|
| alternative form | piddle |
| alternative form | pighell |
| alternative form | pighill |
| alternative form | pightal |
| alternative form | pightel |
| alternative form | pightell |
| alternative form | picle |
| alternative form | pikle |
| alternative form | pingle |
| alternative form | pycle |
| alternative form | pyghtle |
| alternative form | pykle |
| alternative form | pytle |
Origin of pightle
Uncertain; probably a diminutive; forms widely attested from the early 13th century CE. Manning sees two different origins for the picle and pightle types, picle deriving from the verb to pick, as a portion of land picked off from a larger field, but pightle deriving from pight, an archaic past participle of the verb to pitch, as a portion of land pitched or set out from an open field. Since many dictionaries conflate the two terms, it is likely that they have influenced each other. Pingle seems to have appeared somewhat later than the other two types. Many instances of alternation with them are known, but it is unclear if it has a separate origin. Reformation by folk etymology with terms like piddle and pigtail is common.
Questions about pightle
- What does pightle mean?
- Pightle means a small piece of enclosed land, often by a hedge. Some authorities also indicate that a pightle tends to be associated with a house or messuage.
- What part of speech is pightle?
- Pightle is a noun.
- What is the plural of pightle?
- The plural of pightle is pightles.
Words near pightle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pightle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “pightle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pightle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.