tutting
tutting Lexical Profile
tutting Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The act or sound of making a sharp clicking noise with the tongue to express disapproval, impatience, or annoyance.
"A quiet chorus of tutting rippled through the theater when a phone began to ring during the performance."
A street dance style belonging to the popping family in which the dancer forms geometric shapes and right angles with their arms, wrists, hands, and fingers, inspired by poses in ancient Egyptian art.
"The choreographer incorporated intricate finger tutting into the routine to match the fast electronic beat."
• verb
To utter a clicking sound with the tongue as an expression of disapproval, annoyance, or impatience (present participle of tut).
"She stood in the slow-moving queue, tutting quietly under her breath."
• Rhymes for tutting
Word Origin & Etymology
The primary sense derives from the imitative interjection "tut" combined with the suffix "-ing." The dance sense emerged in 1980s street dance culture, popularized as a shortened reference to King Tut (Tutankhamun) due to the similarity between the angular arm positions and ancient Egyptian wall reliefs.