different between tittle vs kittle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?t?t.?l/

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin titulus (“small stroke, diacritical mark, accent”), from Latin titulus (“title”). Doublet of tilde, title, and titulus.

Noun

tittle (plural tittles)

1. A small, insignificant amount (of something); a modicum or speck.
2. (typography) Any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or if a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters i and j.
   • 1590, Bales, The Arte of Brachygraphie (quoted in Daid King's 2001 'The Ciphers of the Monks'):

     The foure pricks or tittles are these. The first is a full prick or period. The second is a comma or crooked tittle.

   • 1987, Andrea van Arkel-De Leeuw van Weenen, Möðruvallabók, AM 132 Fol: Index and concordance, page xii:

     (the page calls both "a superscript sign (hooklike)" and also a diacritical abbreviation of "er" (er#Icelandic) "tittles")

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:modicum.

Related terms

• iota
• titlo

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

tittle (third-person singular simple present tittles, present participle tittling, simple past and past participle tittled)

1. (Scotland) To chatter.

Related terms

• tattle
• tittle-tattle

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitil?n, from Proto-Germanic *kitil?n?, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kit?n? (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geid- (“to stick, jab, tickle”). Cognate with Dutch kittelen, kietelen (“to tickle”), Low German kettelen, ketelen (“to tickle”), German kitzeln (“to tickle”), Icelandic kitla (“to tickle”), Swedish kittla, kittsla, Danish kilde and perhaps Old Armenian ???- (kic-, “to sting, bite”). Compare tickle.

Alternative forms

• kittel

Verb

kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)

1. (transitive, Scotland and Northern England) To tickle, to touch lightly.

Adjective

kittle (comparative kittler, superlative kittlest)

1. (Scotland and Northern England) Ticklish.
2. (Scotland and Northern England) Not easily managed

   Synonyms: troublesome, difficult, variable

Etymology 2

From Middle English kitelen, from Old Norse kjetla (“to bring forth young”), equivalent to kit +? -le.

Verb

kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)

1. (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.

References

• kittle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [1]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]

Anagrams

• Kittel