titter
/ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/
"titter" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“titter” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement.
Corpus desk
Index EN-titter · titter · English
titter · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | titter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “titter” in English
Rare enough to double-check
titter is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
titter has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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, qui… The correct English form is titter, spelled T-I-T-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement.
- 2To teeter; to seesaw.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how titter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
"Thou coxy, cackling candle!" said Catweazle. "Why dost thou titter?"
Etymology
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”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.