picky

Etymology

It is formed from English pick + -y,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from the verb pick in its sense of choosing or of eating in small bits, with the adjective-forming suffix.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a dainty or small appetite: 1867, as a regional word of Cumberland, in W. Dickinson's supplement to his glossary of the county's words and phrases.^[2][7] Etymonline also dates the word to 1867 and notes that the earliest uses refer to eating,^[3] Dictionary.com dates it to 1865–70,^[6] and Merriam-Webster gives 1900 as its first known use.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in English regional speech for someone with a delicate or small appetite, and was later generalized to fastidious or choosy in any matter.^[2][3] The Historical Thesaurus places it both among words for lack of appetite and among words for fastidiousness, from 1867 on.^[7] The Shorter Oxford labels it colloquial and records pickily and pickiness only from the late 20th century;^[4] Collins and the Concise Oxford mark it as informal.^[8][9] The phrase a picky eater keeps the original reference to food.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1867 – having a dainty or small appetite, in Cumberland dialect; later fastidious, choosy.^[2][3]
• late 20th century – pickily and pickiness.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too fastidious or choosy; hard to please, fussy: He was a picky eater as a child and still avoids most vegetables.^[8][5][4][2]

Word family

• pickiness

Related words

• finicky
• nitpicky

Usage notes

A second adjective picky, of uncertain origin and recorded from 1935, describes hair that is sparse and tightly coiled; the OED compares it, with doubt, to a sense of the noun pick.^[2] In Northern Irish dialect a picky was a small fish, especially a young coalfish.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)