icicle

English

Icicles descending from a tree branch

Etymology

From Middle English isykle, isikel, from Old English īsġicel, from Proto-West Germanic *īsajikil, *īsajekul, equivalent to ice +‎ ickle. It was assimilated to nouns in -icle, from Latin -iculus—the expected spelling would have -ickle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Iesjuukel (“icicle”), German Low German Iesjökel, dialectal Danish jisegel (“icicle”), Norwegian isjukel (“icicle”) and Elfdalian aisikkel.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈʌɪsəkəl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪs.ɪkl̩/, /ˈaɪ.sɪ.kl̩/

Noun

icicle (plural icicles)

1. A drooping, tapering shape of ice.
   • 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 II, scene i], page 167:

     Mor. Miſlike me not for my complexion, / The ſhadowed liuerie of the burniſht ſunne, / To whom I am a neighbour,and neere bred. / Bring me the faireſt creature North-ward borne, / Where Phœbus fire ſcarce thawes the yſicles, / And let vs make inciſion for your loue, / To proue whoſe blood is reddeſt,his or mine.

   • 2021 February 24, “Network News: NR takes pride in track teams as effects of Storm Darcy repelled...”, in RAIL, number 925, page 13:

     Several days of sub-zero temperatures caused icicles up to 1.5 metres long to form in tunnels across Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria.

Derived terms

• icicle plant
• icicle radish
• popsicle
• rusticle

Translations

a spear-shape of ice

Albanian: ehull (sq) m, hell (sq) m Arabic: دَلَاة جَلِيدِيَّة f (dalā(t) jalīdiyya) Armenian: սառցալուլա (hy) (saṙcʻalula), սառցալեզվակ (hy) (saṙcʻalezvak) Azerbaijani: buz lüləsi, lülə Bashkir: боҙбармаҡ (boźbarmaq) Basque: izotz-burruntzi, izotz-kandela Belarusian: лядзя́ш m (ljadzjáš), лядзя́к m (ljadzják), сусо́лка f (susólka), сапе́ль m (sapjélʹ) Breton: dant-Genver (br) m Bulgarian: вису́лка (bg) f (visúlka) Buryat: дуһаа (duhaa), мүльһэн дуһаа (mülʹhen duhaa), һоёо мүльһэн (hojoo mülʹhen) Catalan: caramell (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 冰柱 (zh) (bīngzhù), 冰錐／冰锥 (zh) (bīngzhuī), 冰錐子／冰锥子 (zh) (bīngzhuīzi), 冰凌 (zh) (bīnglíng), 冰溜 (zh) (bīngliù) Czech: rampouch (cs) m, střechýl (cs) m Danish: istap (da) c Dutch: pegel (nl) m, ijspegel (nl) m, ijskegel (nl) m Erzya: эйзюро (ejźuro) Esperanto: pendglacio (eo) Estonian: jääpurikas Faroese: glerpípa f Finnish: jääpuikko (fi) French: stalactite (fr) m Galician: carambo (gl) m, carambelo (gl) m, candea (gl) f Georgian: ლოლუა (lolua) German: Eiszapfen (de) m Greek: παγοκρύσταλλος (el) m (pagokrýstallos) Hungarian: jégcsap (hu) Icelandic: grýlukerti (is) n Ido: please add this translation if you can Irish: briogadán m, birín seaca m, reodóg f, bior seaca m, bior siocáin m Italian: ghiacciolo (it) m Japanese: 氷柱 (ja) (つらら, tsurara) Jeju: 동곳 (donggot) Kannada: ಹಿಮದ ಬಿಳಲು (kn) (himada biḷalu), ಹಿಮಸರಳು (kn) (himasaraḷu) Kazakh: сүмелек (sümelek), сүңгі (süñgı) Korean: 고드름 (ko) (godeureum) Latin: stīria f Latvian: lāsteka f Lithuanian: varveklis m Low German: German Low German: Jökel m, Iesjökel m Macedonian: мра́зулец m (mrázulec), мра́нѕул m (mrándzul) Manx: bwoid rioee m Mongolian: соёо мөс (sojoo mös) Navajo: tin nááʼáhígíí Nepali: please add this translation if you can Norn: jokel m Norwegian: Bokmål: istapp m Nynorsk: istapp m Occitan: estalactita (oc) m Odia: please add this translation if you can Old English: ġiċel m Persian: دنگاله (fa) (dangâle) Polish: sopel (pl) m Portuguese: sincelo (pt) m Romanian: țurțur (ro) m Russian: сосу́лька (ru) f (sosúlʹka) Scottish Gaelic: caisean-reòta m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: леденица f, поледица f Roman: ledenica (sh) f, poledica (sh) f Slovak: cencúľ (sk) m Slovene: ledena sveča (sl) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: špingel m Spanish: carámbano (es) m Swedish: istapp (sv) c Tagalog: kalamoko Tibetan: ཁྱགས་དཔྱངས (khyags dpyangs) Turkish: buz saçağı Ukrainian: буру́лька (uk) f (burúlʹka) Vietnamese: cột băng, trụ băng Volapük: gladül Walloon: tchandele (wa) f Welsh: pibonwyen (cy) f, pib iâ f (dialectal)

Anagrams

• cilice