Dictionary.com
definitions

twit

1
[twit]
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR twit ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), twit·ted, twit·ting.

to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at.
to reproach or upbraid.

noun

an act of twitting.
a derisive reproach; taunt; gibe.

RELATED CONTENT

twat
Read more in this article about some frequently asked questions and fun facts related to our definitions.
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

rag, laugh, deride, jest, takeoff, rally, jolly, rib, caricature, jape, josh, quiz, lampoon, haze, travesty, pan, scorn, humiliate, pooh-pooh, banter

Origin of twit

1
1520–30; aphetic variant of obsolete atwite, Middle English atwiten, Old English ætwītan to taunt, equivalent to æt- at1 + wītan to blame

twit

2
[twit]

noun

a weak or thin place in yarn caused by uneven spinning.

Origin of twit

2
First recorded in 1810–20; origin uncertain

twit

3
[twit]

noun Informal.

an insignificant, silly, or bothersome person: Pay no attention to that obnoxious little twit!

Origin of twit

3
1920–25; perhaps orig. noun derivative of twit1, i.e., “one who twits others,” but altered in sense by association with expressive words with tw- (twaddle, twat, twerp, etc.) and by rhyme with nitwit

twit

4
[twit]

noun Informal.

a confused, excited state: to be in a twit about company coming.

Origin of twit

4
probably shortened from twitter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for twit

Contemporary Examples of twit

  • But in one segment, Ray gets her seasonings mixed up (twice), giving critics all the more reason to call her a twit.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Top 5

    The Daily Beast

    November 28, 2013

  • The twit, Guy Clinch, is the unlucky father of Marmaduke, an 18-month-old prodigy of domestic mayhem.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Remedial Reader: The Essential Martin Amis

    Ronald K. Fried

    August 24, 2012

  • To Steele, surely, goes the prize of Republican Twit of the Week.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Why Steele Should Stay

    Tunku Varadarajan

    July 5, 2010

Historical Examples of twit

  • From that evening, in fact, they watched for every opportunity to twit her about her hopeless dream.

    L'Assommoir

    Emile Zola

  • If you are afraid, we will both back out, and then neither can twit the other.

    In School and Out

    Oliver Optic

  • The profession of a gentleman at large, with which you twit me, I hereby renounce.

    The Master of the Shell

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • They twit me in the teeth, because I cannot say who my father and mother were.

    Rienzi

    Edward Bulwer Lytton

  • Do you know, Tishy dear, I was just going to twit you with the negro and his spots.

    Somehow Good

    William de Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for twit

twit

1

verb twits, twitting or twitted

(tr) to tease, taunt, or reproach, often in jest

noun

US and Canadian informal a nervous or excitable state
rare a reproach; taunt

Word Origin for twit

Old English ætwītan, from æt against + wītan to accuse; related to Old High German wīzan to punish

twit

2

noun

informal, mainly British a foolish or stupid person; idiot

Word Origin for twit

C19: from twit 1 (originally in the sense: a person given to twitting)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for twit
v.

1520s, shortened form of atwite, from Old English ætwitan "to blame, reproach," from æt "at" + witan "to blame," from Proto-Germanic *witanan (cf. Old English wite, Old Saxon witi, Old Norse viti "punishment, torture;" Old High German wizzi "punishment," wizan "to punish;" Dutch verwijten, Old High German firwizan, German verweisen "to reproach, reprove," Gothic fraweitan "to avenge"), from PIE root *weid- "to see" (see vision). For sense evolution, cf. Latin animadvertere, literally "to give heed to, observe," later "to chastise, censure, punish."

n.

"foolish, stupid and ineffectual person," 1934, British slang, popular 1950s-60s, crossed over to U.S. with British sitcoms. It probably developed from twit (v.) in the sense of "reproach," but it may be influenced by nitwit.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper