mitten
/ˈmɪtən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.48 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A type of glove or garment that covers a hand with a separate sheath for the thumb, but not for other fingers, which are either enclosed in a single section or left uncovered.
name
Example Sentences
- "to give someone the mitten; to get the mitten"
- "He mittened his hand and beat it violently for a minute before exposing it to the frost to strike a match."
Etymology
From Middle English myteyne, from Old French mitaine (Modern French mitaine), of unclear origin; possibly from mite, miste (“playful name for cat”) + -aine. Alternatively, mitaine may be from Old High German mittamo (“half”), superlative of mitti (“midpoint”), from Proto-Germanic *midjô, *midją (“middle, center”), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, center”). Compare Catalan mitana, Medieval Latin mitta, mitana, and Occitan mitana.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: myteyne, mitaine