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.

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tit ² American  

[tit] / tɪt /

noun

1. a teat.

2. Slang: Vulgar. a breast.

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tit ³ American  

[tit] / tɪt /

noun

1. tit for tat.

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tit. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. title.

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Tit. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

Bible.

1. Titus.

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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

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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

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Tit. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Titus

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Etymology

Origin of tit¹

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

Origin of tit³

Perhaps variant of tip ⁴

Example Sentences

“The concern for the public and for representative democracy is that you’re going to have a lot of tit for tat moving forward,” Skelley told Salon.

From Salon • Sep. 12, 2025

In this tit for tat, though, California’s threats to respond have thus far proved ineffectual.

From Slate • Aug. 19, 2025

Russian statecraft follows closely the principle of proportionality, which means for every tit, there must be a tat.

From BBC • May 16, 2024

Researchers at the University of Tokyo were therefore surprised to find clear evidence of symbolic gesture use by a small wild bird, the Japanese tit.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2024

“But what’s the good of a blue tit or a robin to us? They don’t fly any distance. We need a big bird.”

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams