different between titter vs guffaw

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t?t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?(r)

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”).

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.
2. (obsolete) To teeter; to seesaw.

Synonyms

• snicker; see also Thesaurus:laugh

Derived terms

• tittersome

Translations

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.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably related to tit, titty.

Noun

titter (plural titters)

1. (slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
   • 2013, Dorothy St. James, Oak and Dagger, Berkley Prime Crime (2013), ?ISBN, unnumbered page:

     “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

English

Etymology

Probably onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???f??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???f?/
• (AU/NZ) IPA^(key): /???fo?/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

guffaw (plural guffaws)

1. A boisterous laugh.

   • On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat, bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingled guffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage and humiliation.

   Synonym: belly laugh

Translations

Verb

guffaw (third-person singular simple present guffaws, present participle guffawing, simple past and past participle guffawed)

1. (intransitive) To laugh boisterously.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Translations