click

== English == === Pronunciation === enPR: klĭk, IPA(key): /klɪk/, [kʰl̥ɪk] Rhymes: -ɪk Homophones: clique, klick === Etymology 1 === Imitative of the "click" sound; first recorded in the 1500s. Compare Saterland Frisian klikke (“to click”), Middle Dutch clicken (Modern Dutch: klikken (“to click”)), Old High German klecchen (Modern German: klecken, klicken (“to click”)), Danish klikke (“to click”), Swedish klicka (“to click”), Norwegian klikke (“to click”), Norwegian klekke (“to hatch”). ==== Noun ==== click (plural clicks) A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock, or a latch. (UK) The act of snapping one's fingers. (phonetics) An ingressive sound made by coarticulating a velar or uvular closure with another closure. Synonym: click consonant The sound made by a dolphin. The act of operating a switch, etc., so that it clicks. (graphical user interface) The act of pressing a button on a computer mouse or similar input device, both as a physical act and a reaction in the software. (by extension) A single instance of content on the Internet being accessed. A pawl or similar catch. (UK, slang, obsolete) A knock or blow. A limb contortion at the joint, part of vogue dancing. (music, informal) A click track. ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== click (third-person singular simple present clicks, present participle clicking, simple past and past participle clicked) (transitive) To cause to make a click; to operate (a switch, etc) so that it makes a click. (intransitive) To emit a click. (UK) To snap one's fingers. (computing) To press and release (a button on a computer mouse). (transitive, graphical user interface) To select a software item using, usually, but not always, the pressing of a mouse button. (transitive, computing, advertising) To visit (a website). (intransitive, graphical user interface) To navigate by clicking a mouse button. (intransitive) To make sense suddenly. (intransitive) To get along well. (dated, intransitive) To tick. (transitive, India) To take (a photograph) with a camera. (intransitive, India) To achieve success in one's career or a breakthrough, often the first time. (intransitive, India) Of a film, to be successful at the box office. ===== Usage notes ===== Style guides for technical writers generally recommend using click transitively (for example: click the button), but intransitive use with on (click on the icon) is also widespread. The style guides do accept the use of in in phrases like click in the field. ===== Translations ===== ==== Interjection ==== click The sound of a click. ===== Translations ===== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== cliché ==== See also ==== ejective tsk, tsk tsk tut, tut tut === Etymology 2 === ==== Noun ==== click (plural clicks) (military slang) Alternative spelling of klick (“kilometer; kilometers per hour”). === Etymology 3 === From Middle English clike, from Old French clique (“latch”). ==== Noun ==== click (plural clicks) A detent, pawl, or ratchet, such as that which catches the cogs of a ratchet wheel to prevent backward motion. (UK, dialect) The latch of a door. === Etymology 4 === From Middle English cleken, a variant of clechen (“to grab”), perhaps from Old English *clēċan, *clǣċan, a byform of clyċċan (“to clutch”). More at clutch. ==== Verb ==== click (third-person singular simple present clicks, present participle clicking, simple past and past participle clicked) (obsolete) To snatch. ==== Noun ==== click (plural clicks) (wrestling) A kind of throw. ==== References ==== John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary === Etymology 5 === ==== Noun ==== click (US) Misspelling of clique. ==== Verb ==== click (US) Misspelling of clique. == French == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /klik/ === Noun === click m (plural clicks) alternative form of clic (especially of a computer mouse) == Italian == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English click. === Noun === click m (invariable) (computing) alternative form of clic (“the act of pressing a button, especially a computer mouse”) ==== Related terms ==== == Portuguese == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English click. === Noun === click m (plural clicks) (computing) alternative form of clique (“the act of pressing a button, especially a computer mouse”) ==== Related terms ==== === Further reading === “click”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026 == Spanish == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈklik/ [ˈklik] Rhymes: -ik Syllabification: click === Noun === click m (plural clicks) misspelling of clic ==== Related terms ====