Join free

titter

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

titter¹

  • /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /ˈtɪtɚ/ US
  • [ˈtɪɾɚ] US

Rhymes with -ɪtə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

First attested in the 1610s. Probably from Middle English *titeren, *titren (attested in Middle English titering (“hesitation, vacillation”)), probably a frequentative of Middle English titten (“to waver”), ultimately of imitative origin. Related to Old Norse titra (“to shake, shiver, quiver”) (if not borrowed from it), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to snicker”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *titrōną (“to tremble”).

verb titters · tittering · tittered

  1. To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement. 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn Part First: The Sicilian's Tale - King Robert of Sicily A group of tittering pages ran before.
  2. obsolete To teeter; to seesaw.

Similar: snicker

noun titters

  1. A nervous or somewhat repressed giggle. April 21, 1811, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk There was a titter of […] delight on his countenance.

titter²

  • /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /ˈtɪtɚ/ US
  • [ˈtɪɾɚ] US

Rhymes with -ɪtə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From tit + -er.

noun titters

  1. in plural, slang, vulgar A woman's breast. Flesh Gordon 2 - I remember that this one was chock full of big titters. Many of them looked like the natural variety, as well.
  2. obsolete, slang A girl or young woman. David […] was a man peculiarly after God's own heart, had plenty of wives, and, when he got old and shaky, and there were doubts about his virility, the prophet of the Lord told him to go and get a young "titter" — a capable young woman — to test him, and see if the fires of his passion had gone out

Thesaurus

verb

Similar: snicker

Translations

Every language

verb to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner

Françaisricaner
Русскийхихи́кать xixíkatʹ

noun nervous or repressed giggle

Françaisricanement
Русскийсмешо́к smešók

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"titter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/titter. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{titter_2026,
  title = {titter},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/titter},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}