# whit

> English word · Noun · IPA /wɪt/ · frequency rank #24,357

## Definitions
1. The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota.

## Etymology
From Middle English wiȝt, wight, from Old English wiht (“wight, person, creature, being, whit, thing, something, anything”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtą (“thing, creature”) or *wihtiz (“essence, object”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (“cause, sake, thing”), from *wekʷ- (“to say, tell”). Cognate with Old High German wiht (“creature, thing”), Dutch wicht, German Wicht. Doublet of wight.

## Easily confused with
- **wi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wi)
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wt)
- **who** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-who)
- **why** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-why)
- **win** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-win)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wit)
- **Wii** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wii)
- **wig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wig)
- **wis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wis)
- **wiz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wiz)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wot)
- **wut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wut)
- **Wie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wie)
- **wid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wid)
- **WIC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wic)
- **wim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wim)
- **with** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-with)
- **whom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-whom)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wont)
- **whoa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-whoa)

## Common misspellings (5)
`hwit`, `whhit`, `whitt`, `whti`, `wwhit`

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