Picky

How to spell picky

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce picky

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does picky mean?

1. adjectiveExcessively careful or fussy about choosing, accepting only what meets very particular standards.

Picky in a sentence

• My nephew is so picky that he refuses any vegetable touched by sauce.

• The client was extremely picky about the exact shade of blue on the logo.

Where does picky come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a fairly recent and homely formation, built in American English during the late 1800s from the verb 'pick' plus the common adjective suffix '-y', which marks something as tending toward a quality. The verb 'pick' itself goes back to the Old English 'pician', meaning to pierce, prick, or pluck out, related to similar words across the Germanic languages and reinforced by Old French 'piquer', to prick. The idea behind 'picky' is plain: a person who keeps picking and choosing fussily over small details, especially about food. It started as informal, even slangy, before settling into ordinary everyday speech in the twentieth century. Because the spelling simply doubles down on the short 'i' of 'pick' with a 'ck' before the '-y', it rarely troubles writers; the only mild trap is remembering it is one word with a 'ck', not 'piky'.

How the word is built

• pick (to select or choose)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'inclined to')