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hoity-toity

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hoity-toity

  • /ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɔɪti

Where it comes from

Probably from hoit (“to behave frivolously and thoughtlessly; to play the fool”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

noun hoity-toities · hoitytoity · hoity toity

  1. archaic, uncountable Behaviour adopted to demonstrate one's superiority; pretentious or snobbish behaviour; airs and graces. [O]ne piece of early homage still / Exacted of you; after your three bouts / At hoitytoity, great men with long words, / And so forth,— […]

    Similar: affectations, airs, huffiness, pretensions

  2. obsolete, uncountable Flighty, giddy, or silly behaviour; also, noisy merriment. The VViddovvs I observ'd that vvere marching off, vvith the marque out of their mouths, vvere hugely concern'd to be thought Young, and ſtill talking of Maſques, Balls, Fiddles, Treats; Chanting and Jigging to every tune they heard, and all upon the Hoyty-Toyty like mad vvenches of fifteen.

    Similar: flightiness, giddiness, silliness, frolic, high jinks, romping

  3. UK, countable, dialectal A young woman regarded as flighty, giddy, or silly. Whily Kate the Brown, the Plump, / The Frowzy Browzy, / Hoyty Toyty, / Covent-Garden Harridan, / Soon made poor Jockey’s Head to Ake, / And spoyl’d him for a merry Man.

adjective hoity-toitier · hoity-toitiest · hoitytoity · hoity toity

  1. Affected or pretentious, sometimes with the implication of displaying an air of excessive fanciness or ostentation; pompous, self-important, snobbish; often displaying a feeling of patronizing self-aggrandizing or arrogant class superiority. [S]ee what hoity-toity airs she took[…].
  2. obsolete Flighty, giddy, silly; also, merry in a noisy manner. [W]e have been married fifteen Years, I take it: and that hoighty toighty buſineſs ought, in Conſcience, to be over.

adverb more hoity-toity · most hoity-toity · hoitytoity · hoity toity

  1. obsolete Flightily, giddily.
  2. obsolete Merrily, in a noisy manner. Then hoity, toity, / VVhiſking, friſking, / Green vvas her govvn upon the graſs: / Oh! ſuch vvere the joys of our dancing days.

interjection hoitytoity · hoity toity

  1. dated, obsolete Expressing disapprobation or surprise at acts or words that are pompous or snobbish, or flighty. Hoity toity, VVhat have I to do vvith his Dreams or his Divination—Body o' me, this is a Trick to defer Signing the Conveyance.

Translations

Every language

noun

Русскийхорохорство xoroxorstvo

adj affected or pretentious, sometimes with the implication of displaying an air of excessive fanciness or ostentation — see also pompous, snobbish, high-sounding

Deutschetepetete
Românăarogant, încrezut, îngâmfat

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MLA

"hoity-toity." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hoity-toity. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

hoity-toity. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hoity-toity

Chicago

"hoity-toity." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hoity-toity.

BibTeX
@misc{hoity_toity_2026,
  title = {hoity-toity},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hoity-toity},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}