dit

American  

[dit] / dɪt /

noun

• dits
  plural

1. an echoic word, the referent of which is a click or brief tone interval, used to designate the dot of Morse code, International Morse code, etc.

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dit British  

/ dɪt /

noun

1. the short sound used, in combination with the long sound dah, in the spoken representation of Morse and other telegraphic codes Compare dot 1

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dits
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dit

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dit dits

“At art fairs, people look too quickly,” said Jason Poirier dit Caulier, the founder and director of the Plus-One Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium.

From New York Times ● May 22, 2023

Jean Charles dit Yenapono Some, governor of the Cascades region in a statement.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2023

They emit a sound each time his hand makes contact — from the right, a dit, or dot; from the left, a dah, or dash, the building blocks of the Morse code alphabet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2022

In terms of the terrain, the on dit is that it's not the Alps – only the Alps are the Alps – but that it will be a challenge nonetheless because there's less flat.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 18, 2013

Dit dit dit dit; dit dit, he flashed.

From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry

He doesn’t talk much; he prefers the dits and dahs to communicate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2022

The copy gets beaten out on the portable typewriter, gets trimmed by the censor with his little looseleaf notebook of directives, gets whisked to the cable office, flicks undersea in dits and dots.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of course I was obliged to conquer to a certain extent my aversion to anything but finished works, and accordingly I made a considerable number of sketches 'proprement dits.'

From The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume I by Mrs. Russell Barrington

When business was over for the, day, she loved to cast the cares of sovereignty behind, and become a woman—chatting with her ladies of honor over the "on dits" of the court and city.

From Joseph II. and His Court by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

There are too many of Kipling's Tomlinsons in the world, whose consciences are wholly compact of on dits, on whom the devil himself, sinned they never so sadly, would refuse to waste his good pit-coal.

From Without Prejudice by Israel Zangwill