kittle

See also: Kittle

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitilōn, from Proto-Germanic *kitilōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kitōną (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geid- (“to stick, jab, tickle”).

Cognate with Dutch kittelen, kietelen (“to tickle”), Low German kettelen, ketelen (“to tickle”), German kitzeln (“to tickle”), Icelandic kitla (“to tickle”), Swedish kittla, kittsla, Danish kilde and perhaps Old Armenian կիծ- (kic-, “to sting, bite”). Compare tickle.

Alternative forms

• kittel

Verb

kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)

1. (transitive, Scotland and Northern England) To tickle, to touch lightly.

Adjective

kittle (comparative kittler, superlative kittlest)

1. (Scotland and Northern England) Ticklish.
2. (Scotland and Northern England) Not easily managed

   Synonyms: troublesome, difficult, variable

Derived terms

• kittle cattle

 

Etymology 2

From Middle English kitelen, from Old Norse kjetla (“to bring forth young”), equivalent to kit +‎ -le.

Verb

kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)

1. (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.

References

• “kittle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• “Kittle”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-09-05, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]

Anagrams

• Kittel, kittel