icicle
/ˈaɪs.ɪkl̩/ noun
Forms icicles
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A pendent, and usually conical, mass of ice, formed by freezing of dripping water; as, the icicles on the eaves of a house.
Etymology [OE. isikel, AS. isgicel; is ice + gicel icicle; akin to Icel. jökull; cf. Gael. eigh ice, Ir. aigh.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “icicle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details