Jump To:

• tit
  tit

  noun

  a titmouse.
• tit.
  tit.

  abbreviation

  title.
• Tit.
  Tit.

  abbreviation

  Titus.

tit

¹ American  

[tit] / tɪt /

noun

1. a titmouse.

2. any of various other small birds.

3. Archaic. a girl or young woman; hussy.

4. Archaic. a small or poor horse; nag.

---

tit ² American  

[tit] / tɪt /

noun

1. a teat.

2. Slang: Vulgar. a breast.

---

tit ³ American  

[tit] / tɪt /

noun

1. tit for tat.

---

tit. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. title.

---

Tit. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

Bible.

1. Titus.

---

tit ¹ British  

/ tɪt /

noun

1. slang a female breast

2. a teat or nipple

3. derogatory a girl or young woman

4. slang a despicable or unpleasant person: often used as a term of address

---

tit ² British  

/ tɪt /

noun

1. any of numerous small active Old World songbirds of the family Paridae (titmice), esp those of the genus Parus (bluetit, great tit, etc). They have a short bill and feed on insects and seeds

2. any of various similar small birds

3. archaic a worthless or worn-out horse; nag

---

Tit. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Titus

---

Etymology

Origin of tit¹

First recorded in 1540–50; short for titmouse ( def. ); akin to Old Norse titlingr “sparrow,” Norwegian tite “titmouse”; see also tit ²

Origin of tit²

First recorded before 1100; Middle English, Old English tit(t) “teat, pap, breast”; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch titte, German Zitze, Norwegian titta; akin to tit ¹; see also teat ( def. )

Origin of tit³

Perhaps variant of tip ⁴

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tit tit. Tit.

He praised Powell’s avoidance of engaging in tit for tat with the president.

From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026

The culprit: a half-ounce bird called the blue tit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Researchers plan to continue monitoring the great tit population in Wytham Woods to understand how these weather effects may shift in the future.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2026

Instead of tit for tat, the prime minister is pivoting Canada with precision toward alternative trade blocs like Europe and the Pacific Rim.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2025

The blue tit that had been swinging on a bramble, singing “Heigh ho, go-and-get-another-bit-of-moss,” stopped his acrobatics and flew into the wood.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Various laws on this subject are found in Recopilación leyes de Indias, lib. i, tit. xx; one of these may be found ante, pp.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55 1637-38 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Emma Helen Blair

These lines are referred to by Theophilus, the Roman lawyer, iii. tit. xxiii.

From The Iliad by Alexander Pope

The above laws are from Recopilacion de leyes, lib. viii, tit. xv.

From History of the Philippine Islands by James Alexander Robertson

Decretals, cap. x, De Hæreticis, lib. v, tit. vii.

From The Inquisition A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church by Bertrand L. (Bertrand Louis) Conway

Felipe II, Añover, August 9, 1589, clause 34 of his instructions; Felipe III, Ventosilla, November 4, 1606; lib. iii, tit. x, ley xiii.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55 1609 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by James Alexander Robertson

“After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,” Tit. iii.

From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

This later transcriber ends abruptly in the middle of a page with ⲉⲑⲣⲟⲩ, Tit. ii.

From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener

We are said to be saved "by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he hath shed upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour," Tit. iii.

From Christ: The Way, the Truth, and the Life by John (of Wamphray) Brown

Magistrates are truly to be subjected to and obeyed, as principalities and powers, Tit. iii.

From A Hind Let Loose Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ. With the True State Thereof in All Its Periods by Alexander Shields

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the glory of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii:13.

From Studies in Prophecy by Arno C. Gaebelein