different between ditty vs dutty

English

Etymology

From Middle English dite, ditee, from Old French ditie or dité, from ditier, from Latin dict?re (participle dictatus).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?ti/
• Homophones: diddy (US)
• Rhymes: -?ti

Noun

ditty (plural ditties)

1. A short verse or tune.
   • 1636, George Sandys, Paraphrase upon the Psalms and Hymns dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments

     And to the warbling lute soft ditties sing.

2. A saying or utterance, especially one that is short and frequently repeated.

Translations

Verb

ditty (third-person singular simple present ditties, present participle dittying, simple past and past participle dittied)

1. To sing; to warble a little tune.

   • Beasts fain would sing; birds ditty to their notes.

See also

• ditty bag
• doggerel
• jingle

English

Etymology

According to one source, from the Twi Akan word dutty (“ground”). Probably reinforced by the English terms dirt, dirty.

Noun

dutty

1. (Jamaican) The ground.
   • 1966, Miss Lou, Dutty Tough

     Rain a fall but dutty tough

Adjective

dutty

1. (Britain, slang) dirty
2. (Jamaican) dirty

References

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

From English dirty and, possibly, from Akan d?te.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?t?/
• Hyphenation: du?tty

Adjective

dutty

1. dirty, messy, soiled, unclean, nasty

Noun

dutty

1. ground, earth, land, dirt (soil)

Verb

dutty

1. dirty, make dirty, soil, spoil

Further reading

• Richard Allsopp (main editor), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, 2003 (reprint by The University of the West Indies Press, originally 1996 by Oxford University Press), ISBN 9789766401450 (originally ISBN-10: 976-640-145-4), page 209
• dutty – jamaicans.com Jamaican Patois dictionary