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twitter.

The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtwɪtə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈtʰwɪtʰə]Received-Pronunciation/ˈtwɪtɚ/[ˈtʰwɪtʰɚ] ~ [ˈtʰwɪtʰɹ̩]
  1. The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.

    countable · uncountable
    I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.
  2. Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.

    uncountable
  3. A tremulous broken sound.

    countable
  4. A slight trembling of the nerves.

    countable
  5. Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.

    UK · countable · informal · regional
Where this word comes from

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

verb/ˈtwɪtə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈtʰwɪtʰə]Received-Pronunciation/ˈtwɪtɚ/[ˈtʰwɪtʰɚ] ~ [ˈtʰwɪtʰɹ̩]
  1. To utter a succession of chirps.

    intransitive
  2. (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.

    intransitive · transitive
  3. To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.

  4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.

  5. To twit; to reproach or upbraid.

    obsolete · transitive
  6. Alternative form of Twitter.

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

noun/ˈtwɪtə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈtʰwɪtʰə]Received-Pronunciation/ˈtwɪtɚ/[ˈtʰwɪtʰɚ] ~ [ˈtʰwɪtʰɹ̩]
  1. A knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving; a twit.

    Northern-England · Scotland · archaic
Where this word comes from

Origin unknown; possibly related to twine, twist, and twirl.

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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.