/ˈtwɪ.təɹ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.83 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
Uncountable
noun
Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.
British usage; Countable; Informal
Example Sentences
- "I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park."
- "Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate."
- "The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, / The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,"
- "The swallows, which had been tempted here in great numbers on account of the quantity of insects to be found in proximity to the wood, and had established themselves in the barn and under the eaves, were gambolling, circling, and twittering fearlessly about in the sunshine."
- "Oh, the young handsom wenches, how they twitter'd, / When they but saw me shake my ware, and sing too!"
- "Ball held sow's ear, And both in rear, Ran against old Dame and hit her That she did fall, Over sow and Ball, How Jack and Jill did twitter."
Etymology
From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: twitren, *twiterian, *twitwiʀōn, *twitwizōną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtwɪ.təɹ/
- British English: /ˈtwɪtə/