pico-

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a combining form meaning “one trillionth” (10−12): picogram.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of pico-

<Spanish pico peak, beak, bit. See pic²

Words nearby pico-

Pickwick, Samuel, picky, picloram, picnic, picnic races, pico-, Pico de Aneto, Pico della Mirandola, Pico de Teide, picofarad, picogram

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pico- in a sentence

Place meat on tortillas and add lettuce, chipotle sauce, pico de gallo and sour cream.
Cinco de Mayo Recipes: Tacos for One and All||May 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
For pico de gallo mix all ingredients and set aside for 20 mins.
Cinco de Mayo Recipes: Tacos for One and All||May 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I really ought to have been attending to very much more serious matters, but I never can resist Pico.'
The Making of a Saint|William Somerset Maugham
The title given to nine hundred propositions, put forth at Rome by Pico della Mirandola, then aged twenty-three, in 1486.
The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal|Blaise Pascal

Thus it may be traced, in company with other heaths, to the summit of the Pico Ruivo.
Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I|Karl Ritter von Scherzer
For the Hollanders brought in their shipping this yeare 4000 pico.
Diary of Richard Cocks, Volume II|Richard Cocks
A visit from the young Pico della Mirandola cheered his last hours.
The Story of Florence|Edmund G. Gardner

British Dictionary definitions for pico-

pico-

prefix

denoting 10 –12picofarad Symbol: p

Word Origin for pico-

from Spanish pico small quantity, odd number, peak

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012