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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

twit.

To blame or reproach (someone), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner; also, to ridicule or tease (someone).

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To blame or reproach (someone), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner; also, to ridicule or tease (someone).

    transitive
  2. To criticize or disapprove of (something), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner.

    archaic · transitive
  3. To ignore or kill file (a user on a bulletin board system).

    transitive
  4. Followed by it: to speak or write (something) in a taunting or teasing manner.

    obsolete · transitive
  5. To blame or reproach, especially in a good-natured or teasing manner.

    intransitive · transitive
  6. To be indiscreet; to gossip.

    dialectal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

PIE word *h₂éd The verb is an apheretic form of atwite (“(obsolete) to blame, reproach”), from Middle English atwiten (“to attribute (something) to someone; to blame (something) on someone; to accuse or charge (someone) with something; to speak ill of; to taunt”), from Old English ætwītan (“to blame, reproach; to censure, upbraid; to taunt”), from æt- (prefix meaning ‘at, near; toward’) + wītan (“to accuse; to blame, reproach”) (from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (“to punish; to torment; to know; to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)). Piecewise doublet of advise. The noun is probably derived from the verb, although it is attested in print earlier.

noun/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A jibe, reproach, or taunt, especially one made in a good-natured or teasing manner.

  2. An annoying or foolish person.

    informal
  3. A person who chatters or gossips inanely; a chatterer, a gossip or gossiper; also, a person who divulges private information about others or is indiscreet; a tattletale.

    Ireland · UK · archaic · dialectal
Where this word comes from

PIE word *h₂éd The verb is an apheretic form of atwite (“(obsolete) to blame, reproach”), from Middle English atwiten (“to attribute (something) to someone; to blame (something) on someone; to accuse or charge (someone) with something; to speak ill of; to taunt”), from Old English ætwītan (“to blame, reproach; to censure, upbraid; to taunt”), from æt- (prefix meaning ‘at, near; toward’) + wītan (“to accuse; to blame, reproach”) (from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (“to punish; to torment; to know; to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)). Piecewise doublet of advise. The noun is probably derived from the verb, although it is attested in print earlier.

intj/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Used to represent the short, high-pitched call of a small bird, or a similar sound made by something else: cheep, tweet.

    onomatopoeic
Where this word comes from

Imitative of a bird’s call.

noun/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A short, high-pitched call of a small bird, or a similar sound made by something else; a cheep, a chirp, a tweet.

Where this word comes from

Imitative of a bird’s call.

noun/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Chiefly in the form in a twit: clipping of twitter (“a state of excitement or nervousness”).

    US · informal
Where this word comes from

Clipping of twitter.

noun/twɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰw̥ɪt]General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Clipping of twitter (“a knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving”).

    Northern-England · Scotland · abbreviation · alt-of · archaic · clipping
Where this word comes from

Clipping of twitter.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.