Meaning

noun vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar

noun informal terms for a difficult situation

verb preserve in a pickling liquid

originFrom Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0