Tickle Meaning
/ˈtɪkl̩/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe act of tickling.
nounAn itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.
Sentence Examples
Why can't we tickle ourselves?
You can't tickle yourself.
Tickle his foot and you'll see how he wakes up.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The clown used a feather to ____ the children's feet and make them laugh.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She tried to ____ her young brother to make him laugh, and he giggled with a lot of pure joy today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”). Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle). Both are ultimately sound-symbolic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There's a very fine line between a tickle and an edge!"
— 2016, Ann Waterhouse, Cricket Made Simple:
"Charts and Plans. [...] No. New Charts. 2253 England, and south coast—Dartmouth harbour. [...] 3320 Newfoundland, Thimble tickles and Glover harbour—Head of Seal bay."
— 1903 April 8, The Syren and Shipping, page 169:
"Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it."
— 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 169:
"If you tickle us, do we not laugh?"
— c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
"Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law,
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw."
— 1733, Alexander Pope, “Epistle II”, in An Essay on Man, lines 275–276; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 145:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The clown used a feather to ____ the children's feet and make them laugh.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She tried to ____ her young brother to make him laugh, and he giggled with a lot of pure joy today.