Standard Lemma guide

titter

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/
  • General-American: /ˈtɪtɚ/
  • General-American: [ˈtɪɾɚ]
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪtə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: T IH1 T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nervous or somewhat repressed giggle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • April 21, 1811, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk There was a titter of [...] delight on his countenance.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A woman's breast.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: in-plural, slang, vulgar

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A girl or young woman.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To teeter; to seesaw.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a nervous restrained laugh

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: laugh, laughter

7

verb

Meaning 7

laugh nervously

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The girls giggled when the rock star came into the classroom

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: giggle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: laugh, express joy, express mirth

History

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”).

From tit + -er.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: хихикане (hihikane) — nervous or repressed giggle
  • Finnish: hihitys — nervous or repressed giggle
  • Finnish: tirskunta — nervous or repressed giggle
  • French: ricanement — nervous or repressed giggle
  • Polish: chichot — nervous or repressed giggle
  • Russian: смешо́к (smešók) — nervous or repressed giggle
  • Bulgarian: хихикам (hihikam) — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Czech: uchichtnout se — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Czech: zahihňat se — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Esperanto: klukridi — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Esperanto: subridi — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Esperanto: subridaĉi — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Finnish: hihittää — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Finnish: tirskua — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • French: ricaner — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Ancient Greek: κιχλίζω (kikhlízō) — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Hungarian: röhincsél — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Hungarian: vihorászik — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Polish: chichotać — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Russian: хихи́кать (xixíkatʹ) — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Swedish: fnittra — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Swedish: fnissa — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner
  • Ukrainian: хихи́кати (xyxýkaty) — to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner