pickle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A cucumber or other vegetable preserved in vinegar or salty water.

   A crunchy pickle goes really well with a burger.

2. 2
   verb

   To preserve food by keeping it in vinegar or salty water.

   My grandmother likes to pickle onions every autumn.

3. 3
   noun

   A difficult or awkward situation.

   I'm in a real pickle because I've lost my keys and my wallet.

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”).

Topics