pica
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pica¹
- /ˈpaɪkə/ UK
- /ˈpaɪkə/ US
Sounds like pika · Rhymes with -aɪkə
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin pīca (“jay; magpie”). Doublet of pie (“magpie”).
* (pathology): From the idea that magpies will eat almost anything.
noun picas
-
A disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances, such as chalk, clay, dirt, ice, or sand.
The three most common nonfood picas were eating of strings and rags; feces, vomit, and urine; and paper, cigarettes, and soil.
Similar: allotriophagy, chthonophagia, cittosis, geophagy, pique
- A magpie.
pica²
- /ˈpaɪkə/ UK
- /ˈpaɪkə/ US
Sounds like pika · Rhymes with -aɪkə
Where it comes from
From Medieval Latin pica (“pica: a service book”), possibly from Latin pīca (“magpie”) after the piebald appearance of the typeset page (cf. pie (“disordered type”)). The relation to the printer's measure is unclear, as no edition of the text in pica type is known. The French pica derives from English rather than vice versa.
noun picas
- A size of type between small pica and English, now standardized as 12-point. I had been at Baldwin's before dinner in consequence of a letter from him which showed me that, by using a pica instead of an English letter in printing my book, I might comprise it within such a number of sheets as a guinea-volume should contain […].
- A font of this size.
- A unit of length equivalent to 12 points, officially ³⁵⁄₈₃ cm (0.166 in) after 1886 but now (computing) ¹⁄₆ in.
- A pie or directory: the book directing Roman Catholic observance of saints' days and other feasts under various calendars.
pica³
- /ˈpaɪkə/ UK
- /ˈpaɪkə/ US
Sounds like pika · Rhymes with -aɪkə
noun picas
- Archaic form of pika (“small lagomorph”). Most travellers in the Himalaya are familiar with the pretty little Rodents, known as picas, tailless hares, or mouse-hares, which may be seen in the higher regions[…]
PICA⁴
noun PICAs
- Abbreviation of phenolic impregnated carbon ablator
- Initialism of posterior inferior cerebellar artery
Translations
Talk about this word "pica." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pica. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. pica. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pica "pica." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pica.Cite this
@misc{pica_2026,
title = {pica},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pica},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
