lick
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lick¹
- /lɪk/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɪk
Where it comes from
From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (“to lick”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language.
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch lekken, likken (“to lick”), German lecken (“to lick”), Vilamovian łaekia, łakia, łȧḱkja (“to lick”), Yiddish לעקן (lekn, “to lick”), French lécher (“to lick”), Friulian lecâ (“to lick”), Italian leccare (“to lick”), Lombard leccà (“to lick”), Norman litchi (“to lick”), Occitan lecar (“to lick”); also Faroese and Icelandic sleikja (“to lick”), Breton leat (“to lick”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic ligh (“to lick”), Welsh llyfu (“to lick”), Latin lingō (“to lick”), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick up”), Latvian làizît (“to lick”), Lithuanian laižyti (“to lick”), Bulgarian ли́жа (líža, “to lick”), Czech lízat (“to lick”), Macedonian лиже (liže, “to lick”), Polish lizać (“to lick”), Russian лиза́ть (lizátʹ, “to lick”), Serbo-Croatian ли́зати, lízati (“to lick”), Slovene lizati (“to lick”), Ukrainian лиза́ти (lyzáty, “to lick”), Armenian լիզել (lizel, “to lick”), Central Kurdish لستن (listin, “to lick”), Northern Kurdish alastin, alêstin, alistin, alîstin (“to lick”), Persian لیسیدن (lēsīdan / lisidan, “to lick”), Sanskrit लिह् (lih), रिह् (rih, “to lick; to eat”).
verb licks · licking · licked
- To stroke with the tongue. The cat licked its fur.
- To lap; to take in with the tongue. She licked the last of the honey off the spoon before washing it.
-
To beat with repeated blows.
"What a curious kind of a fool a girl is! Never been licked in school! Shucks! What's a licking! That's just like a girl -- they're so thin-skinned and chicken-hearted. […]"
Similar: clobber
- To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight. My dad can lick your dad.
- To overcome. I think I can lick this.
- To perform cunnilingus.
- To do anything partially.
- To lap. Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.
noun licks
- The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue. The cat gave its fur a lick.
- The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick. Give me a lick of ice cream.
- A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue. a lick of paint
- A place where animals lick minerals from the ground. The birds gathered at the clay lick.
- A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream. We used to play in the lick.
- A stroke or blow. Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.
-
A small amount; a whit.
You don't have a lick of sense.
Similar: ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit, crumb, glimpse, dab, damn
- An attempt at something. Well, my album did well, but "Ruby" was a timely song and that wasn't the time for it to step out. […] Then Waylon Jennings took a lick at it on an album, and my old buddy Roger Miller covered it, too, in his album. And although they're outstanding artists, nothing much happened with the song.
- A short motif. There are some really good blues licks in this solo.
- A rate of speed. (Always qualified by good, fair, or a similar adjective.) The bus was travelling at a good lick when it swerved and left the road.
- An act of cunnilingus. You up for a lick tonight?
lick²
Where it comes from
Back-formation from hit a lick, which see. Ultimately from liquor.
noun licks
- An instance or opportunity to earn money fast, usually by illegal means, thus a heist, drug deal etc. or its victim; mostly used in phrasal verbs: hit a lick, hit licks Bitch, pig, pull out with the stick / everything I hit like a lick / We don’t miss
Lick³
Where it comes from
North German surname, from a short/pet form of a name related to Leute (“people”); compare Leopold.
proper noun Licks
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: poke, thrash, clobber, biff, punch, salt lick, lap, puzzle out, figure out, solve, work, drub, bat, kiss, suck, scratch
Translations
Every language
verb to stroke with the tongue
| Español | lamer, lamber, lambear, lambetear, lametear, relamer |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 핥다 halda |
| 日本語 | 舐める nameru, 舐ぶる neburu |
| 中文 | 舔 tiǎn, 舐 shì |
| हिन्दी | चाटना cāṭnā |
| Português | lamber |
| Français | lécher |
| Deutsch | lecken |
| Italiano | leccare |
| Ελληνικά | γλείφω gleífo |
| Română | linge |
| Русский | лиза́ть lizátʹ, обли́зывать oblízyvatʹ, лизну́ть liznútʹ, полиза́ть polizátʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | liếm |
| العربية | لَحَسَ laḥasa, لَعِقَ laʕiqa |
| עברית | לִקֵּק likek |
verb to lap, to take in with the tongue
| Español | lamer, lamber, lengüetear, langüetear, lambiscar |
|---|---|
| Italiano | lambire |
verb colloquial: to defeat decisively
| 日本語 | 負かす makasu |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 打敗 /打败 dǎbài |
| Français | défaire, vaincre |
| Deutsch | schlagen, besiegen |
| Русский | побежда́ть pobeždátʹ, победи́ть pobedítʹ |
noun act of licking
| Español | lamedura, lambida, lambetazo, lambedura |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 핥음 halteum |
| Português | lambida |
| Français | léchage |
| Deutsch | Lecken |
| Italiano | leccata |
| Русский | лиза́ние lizánije, обли́зывание oblízyvanije |
noun colloquial: a bit
| Español | chin |
|---|
Talk about this word "lick." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/lick. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. lick. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/lick "lick." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/lick.Cite this
@misc{lick_2026,
title = {lick},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/lick},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
