Definitions and meaning of tit
tit
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɪt/
-
- Rhymes: -ɪt
Etymology 1
From Middle English tit, titte, tette, from Old English tit, titt, from Proto-West Germanic *titt, from Proto-Germanic *tittaz (“teat; nipple; breast”), of expressive origin.
Perhaps related to an original meaning “to suck”; compare Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-y-. Doublet of teat, which was borrowed from Old French.
Alternative forms
- tet (in certain senses only)
Noun
tit (plural tits)
- (slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A person's breast or nipple.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:breast
- (slang, vulgar) An animal's teat or udder.
- (UK, Ireland, derogatory, slang) An idiot; a fool.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiot
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- 2012 January 15, Stephen Thompson, "The Reichenbach Fall", episode 2-3 of Sherlock, 00:52:46-00:52:55:
- John Watson (to Sherlock Holmes): It's Lestrade. Says they're all coming over here right now. Queuing up to slap on the handcuffs, every single officer you ever made feel like a tit. Which is a lot of people.
- (UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A police officer; a "tithead".
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Etymology 2
Perhaps imitative of light tap. Compare earlier tip for tap (“blow for blow”), from tip + tap; compare also dialectal tint for tant.
Noun
tit (plural tits)
- (archaic) A light blow or hit (now usually in the phrase tit for tat).
Verb
tit (third-person singular simple present tits, present participle titting, simple past and past participle titted)
- (transitive or intransitive, obsolete) To strike lightly, tap, pat.
- (transitive, obsolete) To taunt, to reproach.
Etymology 3
Probably of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; found earliest in titling and titmouse; compare Faroese títlingur, dialectal Norwegian titling (“small stockfish”).
Wikispecies
Noun
tit (plural tits)
- A chickadee; a small passerine bird of the genus Parus or the family Paridae, common in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Any of various other small passerine birds.
- (archaic) A small horse; a nag.
- (archaic) A young girl, later especially a minx, hussy.
- A morsel; a bit.
Derived terms
Translations
References
See also
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Onomatopoeic.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈtit]
Noun
tit m (plural tits)
- a sharp short sound, such as a whistle, especially when used to call poultry
- (childish) chick
- Synonym: pollet
Derived terms
Further reading
- “tit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
- “tit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
- “tit”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
Chuukese
Noun
tit
- fence, wall
- pen (enclosure)
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tit/, [ˈtˢid̥]
Etymology 1
From Old Norse títt (“often”), the neuter form of the adjective tíðr (“frequent”), from Proto-Germanic *tīdijaz. Derived from the noun *tīdiz (“time”).
Adverb
tit (comparative tiere, superlative tiest)
- often
- frequently
Synonyms
Etymology 2
Verbal noun to titte (“peep, peek”).
Noun
tit n (singular definite tittet, plural indefinite tit)
- glimpse
Declension
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
tit
- imperative of titte
Faroese
Etymology
From Old Norse þit (earlier Old Norse it), cognate with Icelandic þið.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tiːt/
- Rhymes: -iːt
Pronoun
tit
- you (plural)
- Synonym: tykur (Suðuroy)
Declension
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtit/, [ˈt̪it̪]
- Rhymes: -it
- Syllabification(key): tit
- Hyphenation(key): tit
Noun
tit
- alternative form of ti (“dit (in Morse code)”)
Declension
Derived terms
Irish
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old Irish do·tuit (“to fall”).
Pronunciation
Verb
tit (present analytic titeann, future analytic titfidh, verbal noun titim, past participle tite)
- (intransitive) fall
- drop down
- collapse
- descend
- decline
- come down to lower level
- abate
- droop, deteriorate
- be overthrown, be killed
- lose position
Conjugation
Derived terms
Related terms
Mutation
Further reading
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “tit”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 do·tuit”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “tit”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
- “tit”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025
Kavalan
Noun
tit
- kingfisher
Old Dutch
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *tīdi, from Proto-Germanic *tīdiz.
Noun
tīt f or m
- time
- moment
Inflection
Descendants
- Middle Dutch: tijt
- Dutch: tijd, (obsolete) tyd, tijdt, tydt, tijt, tyt
- Afrikaans: tyd
- Berbice Creole Dutch: titi
- Javindo: tet
- Jersey Dutch: tāid, tāidt
- Negerhollands: tied, tid, tit
- Skepi Creole Dutch: teit
- Limburgish: tied
- Zealandic: tied
References
- “tīt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012
Old English
Noun
tit m
- alternative form of titt
Pipil
Etymology
From Proto-Nahuan *tlai(h)-. Compare Classical Nahuatl tletl (“fire”).
Pronunciation
- (standard) IPA(key): /tiːt/
Noun
tīt
- fire
Pnar
Etymology
From Proto-Khasian *tit, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *pt₁is. Cognate with Khasi tit, Riang [Sak] tis¹, Khmu [Cuang] tih, Khmer ផ្សិត (phsət).
Pronunciation
Noun
tit
- mushroom
Slavomolisano
Etymology
From Ikavian Serbo-Croatian htiti; compare Ijekavian htjeti, Ekavian hteti.
Pronunciation
Verb
tit impf
- to want
References
- Walter Breu and Giovanni Piccoli (2000), Dizionario croato molisano di Acquaviva Collecroce: Dizionario plurilingue della lingua slava della minoranza di provenienza dalmata di Acquaviva Collecroce in Provincia di Campobasso (Parte grammaticale)., pp. 413–414
Tok Pisin
Etymology
From English teeth.
Noun
tit
- tooth
Derived terms
- marasin bilong klinim tit (“toothpaste”)
- sop bilong tit (“toothpaste”)
Torres Strait Creole
Etymology
From English teeth.
Noun
tit
- tooth
Source: wiktionary.org