trittle trattle

noun

"trittle-trattle" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“trittle trattle” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nonsense; foolish talk, idle chatter, or meaningless trifle.

Corpus desk

Index EN-trittle-trattle · trittle trattle · English

trittle trattle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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.

Key facts for trittle trattle
PropertyValue
Headwordtrittle trattle
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “trittle trattle” in English

trittle trattleranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

trittle trattle is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for trittle trattle in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: A Scots and dialectal English term stemming from the verb trattle (to prattle/chatter) and related to "trinkum-trankum". An earlier version, trittlyl-trattyll, is recorded as early as 1529. The correct English form is trittle trattle, spelled T-R-I-T-T-L-E- -T-R-A-T-T-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nonsense; foolish talk, idle chatter, or meaningless trifle.
  2. 2
    Cheap, tawdry trinkets or nick-nacks; worthless small items one might buy at a market.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how trittle trattle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Your wife is now well at Penshurst; the small-pox hath but kissed her face. Post-script.—I pray leave your “trittle trattle trollilollies and come to us.”
  2. “Now trittle trattle trollylow,” Quoth the third man, “thou does but mow!”

Etymology

A Scots and dialectal English term stemming from the verb trattle (to prattle/chatter) and related to "trinkum-trankum". An earlier version, trittlyl-trattyll, is recorded as early as 1529.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "trittle trattle"?
"trittle trattle" is spelled T-R-I-T-T-L-E- -T-R-A-T-T-L-E.
What does "trittle trattle" mean?
As a noun, "trittle trattle" means: Nonsense; foolish talk, idle chatter, or meaningless trifle.
What is the origin of the word "trittle trattle"?
A Scots and dialectal English term stemming from the verb trattle (to prattle/chatter) and related to "trinkum-trankum". An earlier version, trittlyl-trattyll, is recorded as early as 1529. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list