tit for tat

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɪt fə(ɹ)ˈtæt/
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• Canada, General-American: /ˈtɪt fɚ ˈtæt/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Uncertain; conjectured to be ultimately from Dutch dit voor dat (“this for that”) or French tant pour tant (“equal for equal”). Compare earlier tip for tap (“(a) blow for (a) blow”), from tip + tap; compare also dialectal tint for tant and tit (“a light blow or hit”). The vowel sequence follows a typical ablaut reduplication pattern.

Tit for tat is a rhyme for hat.

49 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: واحده بواحده (wáḥda b-wáḥda) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Chinese Mandarin: 以牙還牙 /以牙还牙 (yǐyáhuányá) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Chinese Mandarin: 一報還一報 /一报还一报 (yī bào huán yī bào) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Chinese Mandarin: 針鋒相對 /针锋相对 (zhēnfēngxiāngduì) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Cornish: tys-ha-tas — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Czech: oko za oko — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Dutch: oog om oog, tand om tand — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Esperanto: repago — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Esperanto: okulon pro okulo — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Finnish: silmä silmästä — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Finnish: potut pottuina — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Finnish: samalla mitalla — act of returning exactly what one gets
• French: rendre la monnaie de sa pièce — act of returning exactly what one gets
• French: donnant-donnant — act of returning exactly what one gets
• French: un prêté pour un rendu — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Galician: ollo por ollo — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Georgian: თვალი თვალის წილ (tvali tvalis c̣il) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Georgian: კბილი კბილის წილ (ḳbili ḳbilis c̣il) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• German: wie du mir, so ich dir — act of returning exactly what one gets
• German: Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Hebrew: מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה (midá kenéged midá) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Hindi: जैसे को तैसा (jaise ko taisā) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Hungarian: amilyen az adjonisten, olyan a fogadjisten — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Italian: occhio per occhio, dente per dente — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Italian: occhio per occhio — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Italian: pan per focaccia — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Japanese: 竹箆返し (shippegaeshi) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Latvian: dots pret dotu — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Macedonian: мило за драго (milo za drago) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Norwegian: like for like — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Persian: این به اون در (in be on dar) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Polish: wet za wet — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Polish: oko za oko, ząb za ząb — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Polish: coś za coś — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Portuguese: olho por olho — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Portuguese: elas por elas — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Romanian: ochi pentru ochi — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Romanian: așa cum faci așa ți se face — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Romanian: după faptă și răsplată — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Russian: о́ко за о́ко (óko za óko) — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Serbo-Croatian: milo za drago — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Spanish: misma moneda — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Spanish: tas con tas — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Spanish: tis con tas — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Spanish: taz con taz — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Swedish: öga för öga — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Vietnamese: ăn miếng trả miếng — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Vietnamese: có qua có lại — act of returning exactly what one gets
• Welsh: cast am gast — act of returning exactly what one gets