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Added 10 October 2026

click

/klɪk/ noun

First recorded: 1500 Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about click at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock, or a latch.
As I turned the key, the lock gave a click and the door opened.
The act of snapping one's fingers.
An ingressive sound made by coarticulating a velar or uvular closure with another closure.
tsk is a click in English.

verb

To cause to make a click; to operate (a switch, etc) so that it makes a click.
To emit a click.
To snap one's fingers.

interjection

The sound of a click.
Click! The door opened.

noun

Alternative spelling of klick (“kilometer; kilometers per hour”).

Origin

Imitative of the "click" sound; first recorded in the 1500s. Compare Saterland Frisian klikke (“to click”), Middle Dutch clicken (Modern Dutch: klikken (“to click”)), Old High German klecchen (Modern German: klecken, klicken (“to click”)), Danish klikke (“to click”), Swedish klicka (“to click”), Norwegian klikke (“to click”), Norwegian klekke (“to hatch”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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