tickle
Syllables: tick·le/ˈtɪkl̩/
tickle noun: the act of tickling.
Noun
tickle (plural tickles)
- The act of tickling.
- An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.
- I have a persistent tickle in my throat.
- A light tap of the ball.
- There's a very fine line between a tickle and an edge!2016, Ann Waterhouse, Cricket Made Simple
- A narrow strait, such as between an island and the shore.
- Charts and Plans. [...] No. New Charts. 2253 England, and south coast—Dartmouth harbour. [...] 3320 Newfoundland, Thimble tickles and Glover harbour—Head of Seal bay.1903 April 8, The Syren and Shipping, page 169
- Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 169
Verb
tickle (third-person singular simple present tickles, present participle tickling, simple past and past participle tickled)
- To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which typically causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.
- He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle.
- If you tickle us, do we not laugh?c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.
- My nose tickles, and I'm going to sneeze!
- To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
- To cause delight or amusement in.
- He was tickled to receive such a wonderful gift.
- Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law,
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.1733, Alexander Pope, “Epistle II”, in An Essay on Man, lines 275–276; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 145
- To feel titillation.
- He with secret joy therefore
Did tickle inwardly in every vein.1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Muiopotmos, or The Fate of the Butterflie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
- He with secret joy therefore
- To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins.
- To be excited or heartened.
Adjective
tickle (comparative more tickle, superlative most tickle)
- Changeable, capricious; insecure.
- So ticle be the termes of mortall state,
And full of subtile sophismes, which do play
With double senses, and with false debate […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- So ticle be the termes of mortall state,
Adverb
tickle (comparative more tickle, superlative most tickle)
- Insecurely, precariously, unstably.
- Lucio. I warrant it is: And thy head stands so tickle on
thy shoulders, that a milke-maid, if she be in loue, may
sigh it off: Send after the Duke, and appeale to him.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Lucio. I warrant it is: And thy head stands so tickle on
Proper noun capitalized: Tickle
Tickle (plural Tickles)
- A habitational surname from Old English.
tickle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
tickle in Hindi
- to touch in a manner that causes tingling sensation
- गुदगुदाना gudgudānā
tickle in Tamil
- act of tickling
- கிச்சுக்கிச்சு kiccukkiccu
- an itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling
- கிச்சுக்கிச்சு kiccukkiccu
- to touch in a manner that causes tingling sensation
- கிச்சுக்கிச்சுமூட்டு kiccukkiccumūṭṭu
- to feel as if being tickled
- கிச்சுக்கிச்செனல் kiccukkicceṉal
tickle in Marathi
- act of tickling
- गुदगुली gudgulī
- to touch in a manner that causes tingling sensation
- गुदगुल्या करणे gudgulyā karṇe
tickle in Urdu
- to touch in a manner that causes tingling sensation
- گدگدانا gudgudānā
More languagesFewer languages
- tickle in Malayalam
- ഇക്കിൾ ikkiḷ, ഇക്കിളി ikkiḷi
- tickle in Kannada
- ಜಕ್ಕುಲಿಸು, ಜಕ್ಕುಳಿಸು, ಜಕ್ಕುಲಿಗೊಳಿಸು, ಕಚಗುಳಿ ಇಡು
- tickle in Nepali
- काउकुती लाउनु kāukutī lāunu, काउकुती kāukutī
- tickle in Tagalog
- kiliti, kalamkam, kumiliti, mangiliti
- tickle in Arabic
- دَغْدَغَة daḡdaḡa, دَغْدَغَ daḡdaḡa
- tickle in Malay
- geletek
- tickle in Indonesian
- geletik
- tickle in Persian
- غلغلک ġelġelak, قلقلک qelqelak, خارش xâreš, غلغلک دادن ġelġelak dâdan
- tickle in Thai
- จี้ jîi
- tickle in Vietnamese
- cù, cù lét, chọc lét, thọc lét
Examples of tickle in a sentence
- If you tickle me again, I'ma kick you in le balls.
- It tickles me pink that they chose me for the award.
- Climbing so close to an erupting volcano was tickling the dragon's tail.
Synonyms of tickle
Forms of tickle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tickles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tickles |
| present participle | tickling |
| past participle | tickled |
| past | tickled |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more tickle |
| superlative | most tickle |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more tickle |
| superlative | most tickle |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Tickles |
Origin of tickle
From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”). Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle). Both are ultimately sound-symbolic.
From Tickhill in England.
Words formed from tickle
- knee ticklers
- rib-tickling
- slap and tickle
- ticklebrain
- ticklee
- tickle-footed
- ticklegrass
- tickle pink
- tickler
- ticklesome
- tickle someone's fancy
- tickle someone's funny bone
- tickle someone's pickle
- tickle the dragon's tail
- tickle the ear
- tickle the ivories
- tickle the ivory
- tickle the sausage
- tickle the wire
- ticklish
- tickly
- Tommy come tickle me
- untickled
Words that rhyme with tickle
Questions about tickle
- What does tickle mean?
- Tickle means the act of tickling.
- What is tickle in Hindi?
- Tickle in Hindi is गुदगुदाना (gudgudānā). See Tickle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tickle?
- Tickle can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce tickle?
- Tickle is pronounced /ˈtɪkl̩/.
- What is the plural of tickle?
- The plural of tickle is tickles.
Words near tickle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tickle (page history and authors); Tickle (page history and authors); tickle (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: en-us-tickle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tickle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tickle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.