tit
tit Lexical Profile
tit Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A woman's breast, or the teat of a female mammal. (Note: Highly informal and frequently considered vulgar when referring to a person).
"The farmer gently guided the newborn calf to its mother's tit so it could begin nursing."
British A foolish, ridiculous, or socially awkward person.
"He stood in the middle of the crowded room feeling like a complete tit after spilling his coffee on the host."
Any of various small, active, insectivorous songbirds of the family Paridae, typically having a short stout bill and found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa.
"The enthusiastic birdwatcher was thrilled to spot a great tit perched on the wooden garden fence."
Word Nuance & Usage
Care should be taken in usage, as 'tit' represents both a completely standard ornithological term for small songbirds and a highly informal, often vulgar slang term for a woman's breast or a foolish person.
• Rhymes for tit
Word Origin & Etymology
The word has two distinct main origins: the bird sense derives from Old English 'titmāse' (from a Germanic base meaning 'something small'), while the anatomical sense is an alteration of 'teat', originating from Old French 'tete'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.