icicle
pronunciation
How to pronounce icicle in British English:
UK [ˈaɪsɪkl]
How to pronounce icicle in American English:
US [ˈaɪsɪkəl]
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- Noun:
- a pendent spear of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water
Word Origin
- icicle
- icicle: [14] Historically, icicle is a tautology, meaning literally ‘ice icicle’. It originated in Middle English as a compound of ice and ickel ‘icicle’. This word, which survived dialectally into the 20th century as ickle, goes back to Old English gicel, which in turn was descended from a prehistoric Germanic *jakulaz (source also of modern Icelandic jökull ‘glacier’).
- icicle (n.)
- early 14c., isykle, from is "ice" + ikel "icicle," from Old English gicel "icicle, ice" (rel. to cylegicel "cold ice"), from Proto-Germanic *jekilaz (cognates: Old Norse jaki "piece of ice," diminutive jökull "icicle, ice, glacier;" Old High German ihilla "icicle"), from PIE *yeg- "ice." Dialectal ickle "icicle" survived into 20c.
Example
- 1. Want a lemonade icicle before you go home ?
- 2. She was stabbed with an icicle ?
- 3. The spectacle of the icicle in the cave is amazing .
- 4. Is the icicle a life form ?
- 5. These spring chinook salmon are heading for the wanatchee river and icicle creek , in the shadow of the__10__cascade mountains .