titmouse
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English titmose, compound of tit (“small bird”) and mose, from Old English māse (“titmouse”), from Proto-West Germanic *maisā, from Proto-Germanic *maisǭ (compare Dutch mees, German Meise, Old Norse meisingr, French mésange), from *maisaz (“tiny, puny”) (compare Norwegian meis (“skinny weakling”)). Spelling as well as the plural form in imitation of the otherwise unrelated mouse.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (US) IPA(key): /ˈtɪtmaʊs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]titmouse (plural titmice or titmouses)
- Any small passerine bird of the family Paridae, which are found in the woods of the Northern Hemisphere and of Africa.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]any bird of the family Paridae
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- titmouse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “titmouse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “titmouse, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Tits