kittle

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See also: Kittle

English

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Etymology 1

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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

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Verb

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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

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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
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Etymology 2

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

Verb

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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

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Anagrams

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