Added 9 October 2026
pick
/pɪk/ noun
In Latin: carpō Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about pick at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
verb
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To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.
Don't pick at that scab.
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To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.
It's time to pick the tomatoes.
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To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.
She picked flowers in the meadow.
Origin
From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)