picky

English

Etymology

From pick +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪki

Adjective

picky (comparative pickier, superlative pickiest)

1. Fussy; particular; demanding to have things just right.

   I am very picky about the way my kitchen is laid out.

   • 2018 June 4, Perri Klass, M.D., “When New Means No: Picky Eating as a Normal Toddler Phase”, in The New York Times‎:

     Most of the pickiest children were actually in the middle weight group, though a few were underweight and a few were overweight.

   • 2021 December 12, Jessica Green, “The subtle signs YOUR relationship is set to fail: Relationship expert reveals the 'less-obvious' warning signals - including watching TOO much TV and not taking photos together”, in Daily Mail‎, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 December 2021:

     Singletons have become 'pickier' about their potential partners following the pandemic, one dating expert has claimed - insisting they are now even more concerned about the 'pink flags' that could lead to 'red flag scenarios'.

2. (UK, colloquial, not comparable) Of food or a meal: consisting of various small items from which the diner can pick and choose.

   picky bits

   picky tea

   • 1988, Jan Webster, One Little Room, page 240:

     […] a picky meal of bean-sprouts and humous […]

Synonyms

• anal-retentive
• choosy
• finicky
• fussy
• particular
• pedantic
• See also Thesaurus:fastidious

Derived terms

• overpicky
• pickily
• pickiness
• picky bit
• picky tea
• spicky plate

Translations

fussy, particular — see also choosy,‎ fussy

Bulgarian: придирчив (bg) (pridirčiv) Catalan: exigent (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 挑剔 (zh) (tiāoti) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: nirso (fi) French: pointilleux (fr) German: pingelig (de), wählerisch (de), anspruchsvoll (de) Ingrian: makjas Italian: esigente (it), puntiglioso (it), schizzinoso (it) Korean: 까다롭다 (ko) (kkadaropda) Luxembourgish: kriddeleg, pipeg (colloquial), glott (picky about food) Maori: wahakawa (about food) Norman: digoteux Norwegian: pirkete Bokmål: overnøyaktig, pedantisk Persian: ضربه زننده Polish: wybredny (pl), grymaśny (pl) Portuguese: exigente (pt) Romanian: pretențios (ro), mofturos (ro), năzuros (ro) Russian: привере́дливый (ru) (priverédlivyj), разбо́рчивый (ru) (razbórčivyj) Spanish: puntilloso (es), quisquilloso (es), pejiguero (es), mañoso (es), mañero Swedish: kinkig (sv), kräsen (sv) Ukrainian: прискі́пливий (pryskíplyvyj)

Noun

picky (plural pickies)

1. (informal) A picture.
   • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 44:

     And who knows, I might do a few pickies of you - fully clothed, needless to say.

Alternative forms

• piccy

Synonyms

• pic

See also

• nitpicky
• picky eater
• picky head