different between ditty vs nitty

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): (modern) /?n?ti?/, (older) /?n?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?ti/, /-?i/
• Rhymes: -?ti
• Hyphenation: nit?ty

Etymology 1

From nit +? -y. The “foolish, inane” adjective sense is from nit (“fool, nitwit”), possibly under the influence of nutty (“crazy, mad”).

The origin of the noun sense (“dope fiend, druggie”) is unknown, but could refer to a person who is under the influence of drugs to the extent that he or she is careless about personal hygiene and unkempt. Compare the verb nit (“to be a nitty”).

Adjective

nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)

1. (archaic, also figuratively) Full of nits.

   Synonym: lousy
2. (chiefly Britain, slang) Foolish, inane.

   Synonyms: dumb, idiotic

Alternative forms

• nittie (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

nitty (plural nitties)

1. (African-American Vernacular, MLE, slang) A dope fiend, a druggie.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:addict

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from nitty(-gritty).

Adjective

nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)

1. (Excessively) detailed or specific; fastidious, fussy, nit-picky.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fastidious
2. (poker slang) Of a poker player: playing in an overly cautious and reactive manner.

Translations

Etymology 3

A clipping of nitid (“bright, lustrous, shining”), or directly derived from Latin nitidus (“glittering, shining”), from nite? (“to glitter, shine; to look beautiful or bright”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ney- (“to shine”)) + idus (“suffix meaning ‘tending to’”).

Adjective

nitty (comparative more nitty, superlative most nitty)

1. (obsolete, rare) Shining; elegant, spruce.

Translations

References

Further reading

• nitty (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• tinty