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^[1]:

     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^[2], London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-12-19:

     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

• pickily
• pickiness
• picky bits
• picky plate
• picky tea

Translations

fussy, particular

• 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)
• 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