Drizzle is very light rain made up of tiny droplets that fall slowly and gently from the sky. Unlike a downpour that soaks you in seconds, drizzle barely wets your hair as you walk outside. The droplets are so small they almost float down rather than fall straight.

On a drizzly morning, you might not even need an umbrella, just a hood. The sidewalks get damp but not puddled. Drizzle often comes with gray, misty weather that makes everything look soft and quiet. Some people find drizzle peaceful and calming, while others find it gloomy because it can last for hours without quite becoming real rain or clearing up into sunshine.

The word also means to pour a thin stream of liquid over food. When you drizzle honey over your oatmeal or drizzle olive oil on a salad, you're letting it fall in a light, delicate stream rather than pouring heavily. A chef might drizzle chocolate sauce across a dessert in thin zigzag lines to make it look elegant. The food meaning captures that same sense of something falling lightly and gently, just like drizzle from the sky.