titter

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪtɚ/, [ˈtɪɾɚ]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

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”), related to Old Norse titra (“to shake, shiver, quiver”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to snicker”).^[1][2]

Verb

titter (third-person singular simple present titters, present participle tittering, simple past and past participle 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.

   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 70:

     "Thou coxy, cackling candle!" said Catweazle. "Why dost thou titter?"

   • 1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, →ISBN, page 363:

     Nor had the joke been a vulgar one: it was the kind of elegant pleasantry that the minister of foreign affairs might have told the crown prince at a garden party a generation ago, causing the surrounding listeners to titter with delight.

2. (obsolete) To teeter; to seesaw.

Synonyms

• snicker; see also Thesaurus:laugh

Derived terms

• tittersome

Translations

to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner

Bulgarian: хихикам (bg) (hihikam) Czech: uchichtnout se pf, zahihňat se pf Esperanto: klukridi, subridi, subridaĉi Finnish: hihittää (fi), tirskua French: ricaner (fr) Greek: Ancient Greek: κιχλίζω (kikhlízō) Hungarian: röhincsél, vihorászik (hu) Polish: chichotać (pl) Russian: хихи́кать (ru) (xixíkatʹ) Swedish: fnittra (sv), fnissa (sv) Ukrainian: хихи́кати impf (xyxýkaty)

Noun

titter (plural 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.

Derived terms

• titter-totter

 

Translations

nervous or repressed giggle

Bulgarian: хихикане (bg) n (hihikane) Finnish: hihitys (fi), tirskunta French: ricanement (fr) Polish: chichot (pl) Russian: смешо́к (ru) m (smešók)

Etymology 2

Probably related to tit, titty.

Noun

titter (plural titters)

1. (slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
   • 1995 February 21, Agent_69 [username], “big breast video list”, in alt.sex.breast‎ (Usenet):

     Flesh Gordon 2 - I remember that this one was chock full of big titters. Many of them looked like the natural variety, as well.

   • 1999 March 13, MrMalo [username], “Re: State Capitals”, in alt.jokes.limericks‎ (Usenet):

     there was an old lady from raleigh
     who was so doggone nasty by golly
     just squeezin her titters
     you'd pick up some critters
     and bathe twice in one month for your folly

   • 2013, Dorothy St. James, Oak and Dagger‎, Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN:

     “The poor dear, even her titters are weighted down with melancholy,” Pearle said to Mable.
     “I don't know what you're talking about. Her titters look perky enough to me,” Mable replied.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:titter.

Synonyms

• (a woman's breast): See also Thesaurus:breasts.

References

1. “titter”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
2. Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “titter”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.