chit
/t͡ʃɪt/
"chit" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chit” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,490 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,490
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃɪt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #28,490 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chit” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chit is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /t͡ʃɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,490 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for chit, with forms such as "cchit", "chhit", and "chitt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CT", "ci", "cut", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chitte (“a young animal, cub, whelp”), from Old English *ċytten, *ċietten, *ċitten, from Proto-West Germanic *kittīn, from Proto-Germanic *kittīną (“young animal, fawn, kid”). Cognate with Scots chit (“chit”), Low German kitte (“young an… The correct English form is chit, spelled C-H-I-T.
Definition
- 1A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
- 2A pert or sassy young person, especially a young woman.
Etymology
From Middle English chitte (“a young animal, cub, whelp”), from Old English *ċytten, *ċietten, *ċitten, from Proto-West Germanic *kittīn, from Proto-Germanic *kittīną (“young animal, fawn, kid”). Cognate with Scots chit (“chit”), Low German kitte (“young animal”), German Kitz (“fawn, kid”). See also kid.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchit,chhit,chitt,chti,ciht,hcit
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chit - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "chit"?
What does "chit" mean?
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Using “chit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /t͡ʃɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “CT” - see the side-by-side comparison. chit vs CT
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.