mitten
Americannoun
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a hand covering enclosing the four fingers together and the thumb separately.
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mitt.
noun
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Sometimes shortened to: mitt. a glove having one section for the thumb and a single section for the other fingers
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slang a boxing glove
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mitten
1350–1400; Middle English miteyn < Middle French, Old French mitaine, equivalent to mite mitten (< ?) + -aine -an
Explanation
A mitten is a cold-weather piece of clothing that you wear on your hand. Unlike gloves, which cover each finger individually, mittens cover your four fingers together, and your thumb separately. Mittens keep your hands warmer than gloves, because your fingers share their warmth and expose less surface area to the cold. Small children often wear mittens — they're easier to put on than gloves are, and it's common for them to be attached to each other with yarn that can be threaded through the arms of a coat, or clipped onto a coat's sleeves. The word mitten comes from medietana, "divided in the middle" in Vulgar Latin.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His buses, street cars, subways, elevateds, taxis bore the sombre legend OUR CHIEF, T. E. MITTEN, 1864-1929.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
