## Meanings
1. A cucumber or other vegetable preserved in vinegar or salty water.
2. To preserve food by keeping it in vinegar or salty water.
3. A difficult or awkward situation.

## Examples
- A crunchy pickle goes really well with a burger.
- My grandmother likes to pickle onions every autumn.
- I'm in a real pickle because I've lost my keys and my wallet.

## Derived Forms
- frickle
- koolickle
- pickle-herring
- pickleable
- pickleback
- pickleball
- pickled
- picklehead
- pickleless
- picklelike
- pickleman
- pickler

## Related Forms
- piccalilli

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pikel
- Root: pekel

## Etymology
From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

## AI Etymology
Pickle comes from Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”). In present-day English it covers a cucumber or other vegetable preserved in vinegar or salty water, to preserve food by keeping it in vinegar or salty water, and a difficult or awkward situation. The wider family includes derived forms such as frickle, koolickle, pickle-herring, pickleable, pickleback and related forms such as piccalilli.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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pickle

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