pizzle
/ˈpɪzl̩/
pizzle noun: the penis of an animal.
Noun
pizzle (plural pizzles)
- The penis of an animal.
- Although, if in the lion the position of the pizzle be proper, and that the natural situation, it will be hard to make out their retrocopulation, or their coupling and pissing backward, according to the determination of Aristotle [...].1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, V.19
- in heraldry
- the dehydrated meat thereof, as a dog treat
- A baton made from the penis of an ox, once used to beat men and animals.
Verb
pizzle (third-person singular simple present pizzles, present participle pizzling, simple past and past participle pizzled)
- To beat (with a pizzle).
- Next Morning I went into his Room, and took hold of his Pizzle.―He jump'd out of Bed, and ſnatch'd it from me, and ſwore, he valued his Pizzle as he valued his Life, and would as ſoon loſe an Inch of one as t'other, for he he kept it on Purpoſe to pizzle the Bitch his Wife.1726, “Vincent Davis, for Murder”, in Select Trials at the Seſſions-House in the Old-Bailey, volume 2, pages 191-192
- [A] preliminary caucus was held, "a sort of dodge on the sly", a closed door affair, at the Executive mansion, to "settle the hash" of those who might be tender-footed or disposed to bolt, and to pizzle them into arrangements.1860, State Gazette Appendix: Containing Debates in the House of Representatives of the Eighth Legislature of the State of Texas, volume 4, page 138
Forms of pizzle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pizzles |
| alternative form | pizzel |
| alternative form | pizzell |
| alternative form | pisle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pizzles |
| present participle | pizzling |
| past participle | pizzled |
| past | pizzled |
Origin of pizzle
From Dutch Low Saxon pesel or West Flemish pezel, diminutive of Middle Dutch pese (“a sinew, tendon, string, pizzle”), from Old Dutch *pisa (“sinew, string, fibre”), possibly ultimately related to vezel (“fiber”), from Proto-West Germanic *fas-il-, from Proto-Indo-European *pē̆s- (“to blow”) (see Old High German faso (“fiber”)); in which case this alternation *pes- / *fes- may indicate a repeated borrowing from a (non-Indo-European?) substrate language. Cognate with Dutch pees, Middle Low German pese (“tendon, bowstring”), Dutch pees (“sinew, tendon”), German Low German Peserick, Pesel (“pizzle”), dialectal German Pisel (“penis”).
Words formed from pizzle
Words that rhyme with pizzle
Questions about pizzle
- What does pizzle mean?
- Pizzle means the penis of an animal.
- What part of speech is pizzle?
- Pizzle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce pizzle?
- Pizzle is pronounced /ˈpɪzl̩/.
- What is the plural of pizzle?
- The plural of pizzle is pizzles.
Words near pizzle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pizzle (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pizzle.wav.
Cite this entry: “pizzle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pizzle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.