English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: twĭt'ər, IPA(key): /ˈtwɪtə/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) enPR: twĭt'ər, IPA(key): /ˈtwɪtəɹ/, /ˈtwɪt̬əɹ/, [ˈtʰwɪɾ.ɚ]
- Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: twit‧ter
Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”).[1] Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).
Noun
[edit]twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)
- (uncountable) The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.
- I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.
- (uncountable, electronics) Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
- 1986, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986, IEEE, page 145:
- Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.
- (countable) A tremulous broken sound.
- (countable) A slight trembling of the nerves.
- (countable, informal or British, regional) Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
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Verb
[edit]twitter (third-person singular simple present twitters, present participle twittering, simple past and past participle twittered)
- (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
- 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:
- The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, / The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
- 1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], translated by H. L. Brækstad, Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 278:
- The swallows, which had been tempted here in great numbers on account of the quantity of insects to be found in proximity to the wood, and had established themselves in the barn and under the eaves, were gambolling, circling, and twittering fearlessly about in the sunshine.
- (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
- To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.
- c. 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Loyal Subiect”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- Oh, the young handsom wenches, how they twitter'd, / When they but saw me shake my ware, and sing too!
- To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
- (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- I have repented of it many’s the good time and oft. And if he was so good to forgive me a word spoken in haste or so, it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me. He was a husband to me, he was; and if ever I did make use of an ill word or so in a passion, I never called him rascal […]
- Alternative form of Twitter
- Synonym: tweet
- 2009 March 2, Michelle Levi, “McCain Criticizes Obama On The Senate Floor”, in CBS News[1], retrieved 2 March 2009:
- In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
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Etymology 2
[edit]Origin unknown; possibly related to twine, twist, and twirl.[2]
Noun
[edit]twitter (plural twitters)
- (Northern England, Scotland, weaving, archaic) A knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving; a twit.
Translations
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ “twitter, v. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “twitter, n.2”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
French
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]- (transitive, intransitive, Internet) to tweet (to post to Twitter)
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | simple | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | twittant /twi.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | twitté /twi.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | twitte /twit/ |
twittes /twit/ |
twitte /twit/ |
twittons /twi.tɔ̃/ |
twittez /twi.te/ |
twittent /twit/ |
imperfect | twittais /twi.tɛ/ |
twittais /twi.tɛ/ |
twittait /twi.tɛ/ |
twittions /twi.tjɔ̃/ |
twittiez /twi.tje/ |
twittaient /twi.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | twittai /twi.te/ |
twittas /twi.ta/ |
twitta /twi.ta/ |
twittâmes /twi.tam/ |
twittâtes /twi.tat/ |
twittèrent /twi.tɛʁ/ | |
future | twitterai /twi.tʁe/ |
twitteras /twi.tʁa/ |
twittera /twi.tʁa/ |
twitterons /twi.tʁɔ̃/ |
twitterez /twi.tʁe/ |
twitteront /twi.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | twitterais /twi.tʁɛ/ |
twitterais /twi.tʁɛ/ |
twitterait /twi.tʁɛ/ |
twitterions /twi.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
twitteriez /twi.tə.ʁje/ |
twitteraient /twi.tʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | twitte /twit/ |
twittes /twit/ |
twitte /twit/ |
twittions /twi.tjɔ̃/ |
twittiez /twi.tje/ |
twittent /twit/ |
imperfect2 | twittasse /twi.tas/ |
twittasses /twi.tas/ |
twittât /twi.ta/ |
twittassions /twi.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
twittassiez /twi.ta.sje/ |
twittassent /twi.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | twitte /twit/ |
— | twittons /twi.tɔ̃/ |
twittez /twi.te/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Related terms
[edit]- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪtə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɪtə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English lemmas
- English nouns
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- en:Electronics
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- British English
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- English terms with obsolete senses
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- Northern England English
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- en:Weaving
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Animal sounds
- French terms derived from English
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French terms spelled with W
- French transitive verbs
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- fr:Internet
- French verbs with conjugation -er
- French first group verbs