twit

twit
{{11}}twit (n.) "foolish, stupid and ineffectual person," 1934, British slang, popular 1950s-60s, crossed over to U.S. with British sitcoms. It probably developed from TWIT (Cf. twit) (v.) in the sense of "reproach," but it may be influenced by NITWIT (Cf. nitwit).
{{12}}twit (v.) 1520s, aphetic form of atwite, from O.E. ætwitan "to blame, reproach," from æt "at" + witan "to blame," from P.Gmc. *witanan (Cf. O.E. wite, O.S. witi, O.N. viti "punishment, torture;" O.H.G. wizzi "punishment," wizan "to punish;" Du. verwijten, O.H.G. firwizan, Ger. verweisen "to reproach, reprove," Goth. fraweitan "to avenge"), from PIE root *weid- "to see" (see VISION (Cf. vision)). For sense evolution, Cf. L. animadvertere, lit. "to give heed to, observe," later "to chastise, censure, punish."

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • twit — twit·ten; twit·ter·a·tion; twit·ter·er; twit·tery; twit; twit·ter; twit·ty; …   English syllables

  • twit — twit1 [twit] vt. twitted, twitting [aphetic < ME atwiten, to twit < OE ætwitan < æt, at + witan, to accuse, akin to witan, to know: see WISE1] to reproach, tease, taunt, etc., esp. by reminding of a fault or mistake n. 1. the act of… …   English World dictionary

  • Twit — can mean: *A British slang word for an insignificant, foolish or annoying person. *The weekly podcast This WEEK in TECH. *The TWiT podcast network TWiT.tv *The Roald Dahl children s book called The Twits *A user of Twitter …   Wikipedia

  • twit — was originally, and still is, a verb, meaning ‘taunt’ [16]. It is a shortened version of the now defunct atwite. This went back to Old English ætwītan, a compound verb formed from the prefix æt , denoting ‘opposition’, and wītan ‘reproach’. It is …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • twit — was originally, and still is, a verb, meaning ‘taunt’ [16]. It is a shortened version of the now defunct atwite. This went back to Old English ætwītan, a compound verb formed from the prefix æt , denoting ‘opposition’, and wītan ‘reproach’. It is …   Word origins

  • Twit — Twit, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Twitted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Twitting}.] [OE. atwiten, AS. [ae]tw[=i]tan to reproach, blame; [ae]t at + w[=i]tan to reproach, blame; originally, to observe, see, hence, to observe what is wrong (cf. the meanings of E.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • twit — [twıt] n [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: Perhaps from twat] informal a person who you think is stupid or silly …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • twit — [ twıt ] noun count INFORMAL a stupid or silly person …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • twit — Ⅰ. twit [1] ► NOUN informal, chiefly Brit. ▪ a silly or foolish person. DERIVATIVES twittish adjective. ORIGIN originally dialect in the sense «tale bearer». Ⅱ. twit [2] …   English terms dictionary

  • twit — index jape, jeer, mock (deride) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • twit — vb *ridicule, deride, mock, taunt, rally Analogous words: reproach, chide, *reprove: reprehend, blame, censure (see CRITICIZE): *scoff, jeer, gibe …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

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