Stick

How to spell stick

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stick

What does stick mean?

1. verbTo attach, fix, or adhere one thing to another, or to remain firmly in place.
2. nounA thin piece of wood or a similar long, slender length of material.

Stick in a sentence

• verb

  The label would not stick to the damp jar.

• noun

  He picked up a stick to draw a line in the sand.

• verb

  You can stick the receipt in the expenses folder.

• noun

  The recipe calls for one stick of cinnamon.

Where does stick come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English noun sticca, meaning a thin rod, twig, or peg, and the related verb stician, meaning to pierce, prick, or remain fixed in place. Both trace back to a Germanic root carrying the idea of something pointed that pokes into or holds fast, and the same family gives us related words such as stitch, stake, and the Dutch stok. The noun sense (a piece of wood) and the verb sense (to fix, pierce, or adhere) have travelled together since Anglo-Saxon times, which is why a single short spelling covers such different meanings today. The figurative sense of something sticking, that is staying or clinging, grew naturally out of the older idea of a sharp point lodging firmly in a surface. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable, and its simple consonant cluster gives modern writers very little trouble.

How the word is built

• stick (single root from Old English sticca, a rod or twig); no affixes