sprinkle
/ˈspɹɪŋkəl/
sprinkle verb: to cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance).
Verb
sprinkle (third-person singular simple present sprinkles, present participle sprinkling, simple past and past participle sprinkled)
- To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance).
- The confectioner sprinkled icing sugar over the cakes.
- And the priest shall[…]sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 14:16
- To cover (an object) by sprinkling a substance on to it.
- The confectioner sprinkled the cakes with icing sugar.
- Most of the passengers watched from the enclosed promenade deck, but Sandra found her way to the higher, open promenade where she shivered and watched the city lights fade and the stars sprinkle themselves across a dark blue velvet sky.2005, Justus Roux, Who's Your Daddy?, page 66
- To drip in fine drops, sometimes sporadically.
- It sprinkled outside all day long.
- To rain very lightly outside.
- It sprinkled very early in the morning.
- To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify.
- having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 10:22
Noun
sprinkle (plural sprinkles)
- A light covering with a sprinkled substance.
- He decorated the Christmas card with a sprinkle of glitter.
- My memory leaves me with a constant and deep burning, my eyes stinging and red from short sprinkles of tears which have been sneaking up on me for days now.1979 December 1, Ellen Brook Davis, “David Brill — In Memoriam”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 19, page 5
- Synonyms:
- sprinkling
- A light rain shower.
- An aspersorium or utensil for sprinkling.
- A small hard piece of sugar and starch, or chocolate, used to decorate cakes etc.
- Synonyms:
- jimmy
Proper noun capitalized: Sprinkle
Sprinkle (plural Sprinkles)
- A surname.
sprinkle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sprinkle in Hindi
- to cause to fall in fine drops
- छिड़कना chiṛaknā
sprinkle in Tamil
- to cause to fall in fine drops
- இடு iṭu, தூவு tūvu
sprinkle in Marathi
- to sprinkle
- शिंपडणे śimpaḍṇe, भुरभुरणे bhurbhurṇe
sprinkle in Urdu
- برکنا, چھڑکنا, تھوڑا تھوڑا بکھیرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- sprinkle in Bengali
- ছিটানো, ছড়ানো
- sprinkle in Telugu
- చిలుకు ciluku
- sprinkle in Malayalam
- തളിക്കുക taḷikkuka, ചാറ്റുക cāṟṟuka
- sprinkle in Kannada
- ಚಿಮುಕಿಸು, ಚುಮುಕಿಸು, ಚಳೆಗೊಡು, ಚಳಿಕೊಡು
- sprinkle in Punjabi
- ਭੁਕਣਾ bhukṇā
- sprinkle in Odia
- ଛିଞ୍ଚିବା
- sprinkle in Sanskrit
- जुहोति juhoti
- sprinkle in Persian
- پاشیدن pâšidan, افشاندن afšândan, شپیختن šepixtan
Examples of sprinkle in a sentence
- Pat crushed up a package of birthday cake Oreos and sprinkled them over birthday cake ice cream.
- She made a kind of polenta from cornmeal and chicken broth, with some cheese sprinkled on top.
- I sprinkled little flakes into the fish tank for the guppies to eat.
Synonyms of sprinkle
Forms of sprinkle
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | sprinkles |
| present participle | sprinkling |
| past participle | sprinkled |
| past | sprinkled |
| Noun | |
| plural | sprinkles |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Sprinkles |
Origin of sprinkle
From Middle English sprenkelen, sprynklen, from Middle Dutch sprenkelen, equivalent to sprink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen (“to sprinkle”), German Low German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle; dapple”), German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle”).
Words formed from sprinkle
Words that rhyme with sprinkle
Questions about sprinkle
- What does sprinkle mean?
- Sprinkle means to cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance).
- What is sprinkle in Hindi?
- Sprinkle in Hindi is छिड़कना (chiṛaknā). See Sprinkle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sprinkle?
- Sprinkle can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sprinkle?
- Sprinkle is pronounced /ˈspɹɪŋkəl/.
- What is the past tense of sprinkle?
- The past tense of sprinkle is sprinkled.
Words near sprinkle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sprinkle (page history and authors); Sprinkle (page history and authors); भुरभुरणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); sprinkle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sprinkle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sprinkle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਭੁਕਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); sprinkle (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-sprinkle.wav.
Cite this entry: “sprinkle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sprinkle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.