Word.ws English Dictionary

pip-squeak

pip-squeak noun: a small and insignificant person.

Noun

pip-squeak (plural pip-squeaks)

  1. (derogatory, informal) A small and insignificant person.
    • From day one, I was the school pipsqueak.2015, David Spade, Almost Interesting: The Memoir, HarperCollins, →ISBN
  2. (historical) A form of radio-based navigation used by the British Air Force immediately preceding the development of radar.

Forms of pip-squeak

pluralpip-squeaks
alternative formpipsqueak

Origin of pip-squeak

Onomatopoeic from pip + squeak. Cited as early as 1900, the term originally referred to a small artillery shell. In later uses, it became largely onomatopoeic, influenced in part by popular culture, including the comic strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

Words formed from pip-squeak

Questions about pip-squeak

What does pip-squeak mean?
Pip-squeak means a small and insignificant person.
What part of speech is pip-squeak?
Pip-squeak is a noun.
What is the plural of pip-squeak?
The plural of pip-squeak is pip-squeaks.

Words near pip-squeak in the dictionary

  1. pip pip
  2. pip pip pip
  3. pip to the post
  4. pip-pip
  5. pip-pip-pip
  6. pip-squeak
  7. pip-squeaks
  8. pip/taz
  9. pipa
  10. pipable
  11. pipacycline

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pip-squeak (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: “pip-squeak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pip-squeak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.