# dither

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈdɪðə/ · frequency rank #83,191

## Definitions
1. To tremble, shake, or shiver.
2. To be uncertain or unable to make a decision; to vacillate, hesitate, or delay.
3. To do something nervously.
4. To apply an algorithm to digital data to minimize the effects of quantization:
5. To apply an algorithm to digital data to minimize the effects of quantization:

## Etymology
Variant of didder, from Middle English dideren (“to tremble”). Compare Middle English bididren, bididdren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to deceive, trick”).
Alternatively, perhaps with expressive voicing from *titeren, from Proto-Germanic *titrōną. If so, then a doublet of teeter and cognate with Old High German zittarōn (German zittern) and Old Norse titra (Faroese titra, Icelandic titra). Alternatively an unrelated reduplicative onomatopoeia.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dither