prick [OE] Prick is a word inherited from Germanic, with both the noun and the verb found in Old English, and already with a wide range of meanings. The slang term for a penis dates from the mid 16th century and was even used as a term of endearment from a woman to a man, although surviving examples usually suggest a certain amount of cajolement from the woman, with the suggestion of reward to come. Prickle, a little prick, is also Old English, but prickly is not recorded until the late 16th century in a literal sense, and not until the mid 19th in the sense ‘quick to take offence’.