tic

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tic"

Translingual

Symbol

tic

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Tira.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Tira terms

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, Australia) IPA^(key): /tɪk/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /tək/
• Rhymes: -ɪk
• Homophone: tick

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French tic.

Noun

tic (plural tics)

1. (neurology) A sudden, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization.
   • 2020, Andrea E. Cavanna, Pharmacological Treatment of Tics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by multiple tics. A tic is a sudden, rapid, repetitive, non-rhythmic movement (e.g. eye blinking) or vocalization (e.g. throat clearing).

2. (by extension) Something that is done or produced habitually or characteristically.
   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Boyle revives some of the stylistic tics which found themselves being ripped off by geezer-gangster Britflicks back in the day, but now the freezeframes are briefer, sharper; the movie itself refers back to the original with variant flashback versions of famous scenes, but also Super 8-type images of the boys’ poignant boyhood in primary school.

Derived terms

• ticcer
• ticcy
• ticless
• ticlike

Translations

local and habitual convulsive motion — see also twitch

• Bulgarian: тик m (tik)
• Catalan: tic m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抽搐 (zh) (chōuchù)

• Czech: tik (cs) m
• Dutch: tic (nl) m
• Esperanto: tiko
• Finnish: nykimisoire
• French: tic (fr) m
• German: Tic (de) m, Zucken (de) n, nervöses Zucken n
• Japanese: チック (ja) (chikku)
• Korean: 틱 (tik)
• Macedonian: тик m (tik)
• Polish: tik (pl)
• Portuguese: tique (pt), cacoete (pt)
• Romanian: tic (ro) n
• Russian: тик (ru) m (tik), не́рвный тик m (nérvnyj tik), подёргивание (ru) n (podjórgivanije)
• Spanish: tic (es) m, chiripiorca (es) f (very perceptible, Puerto Rico)
• Swedish: ryckning (sv) c, tic ?
• Urdu: حرکی f (harki)

Verb

tic (third-person singular simple present tics, present participle ticcing, simple past and past participle ticced)

1. (intransitive) To exhibit a tic; to undergo a sudden, semi-voluntary muscle movement.
   • 2020, Andrea E. Cavanna, Pharmacological Treatment of Tics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Patients often describe the need to tic as the mounting of inner tension, localized either to the body region where the tic is about to occur or throughout the body.

Translations

to undergo a muscle movement

• Esperanto: tiki
• Māori: timu, tumu

Etymology 2

Clipping of ticket.

Noun

tic (plural tics)

1. (informal) Clipping of ticket.

Derived terms

• tix

See also

• tic bean
• tic douloureux
• tic tac
• tic-tac-toe
• trip tic

Further reading

• tic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• CTI, ICT, TCI, cit, cit.

Acholi

Etymology 1

Noun

tic

1. work, working
2. job, occupation, profession

Etymology 2

Adjective

tic

1. moist, damp, wet

References

• Blackings, Mairi John (2009), Acholi English – English Acholi Dictionary‎^[2], Munich: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 122

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈtik]

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “tic”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “tic”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “tic”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

Onomatopoeic; originally of horses in the 17th century. Compare Italian ticchio with a similar meaning.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tik/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Homophone: tique

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic

Descendants

• → English: tic
• → German: Tic
• → Portuguese: tique

Further reading

• “tic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtik/
• Rhymes: -ik
• Hyphenation: tìc

Noun

tic m (invariable)

1. tic, twitch

Latvian

Verb

tic

1. third-person singular/plural present indicative of ticēt
2. (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of ticēt
3. (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of ticēt

Romanian

Noun

tic n (plural ticuri)

1. obsolete form of spic

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	tic	ticul	ticuri	ticurile
genitive-dative	tic	ticului	ticuri	ticurilor
vocative	ticule		ticurilor

References

• tic in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• tick (check mark)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtik/ [ˈt̪ik]
• Rhymes: -ik
• Syllabification: tic

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic (movement)
2. (Spain) check mark, tick (the ✅ symbol)

   Synonyms: (Mexico) palomita, (Puerto Rico) cotejo, (Chile) ticket

3. tick (sound)

   tic-tac ― tick-tock

Related terms

• tictac/tic-tac
• tictaquear

Further reading

• “tic”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “tic”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French tic. Attested since 1885.

Noun

tic n

1. (neurology, chiefly in the plural) a tic
2. (colloquial, figuratively, chiefly in the plural) (unreasonable) compulsory behavior, a tic

Declension

Declension of tic

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	tic	tics
	definite	ticet	ticets
plural	indefinite	tics	tics
	definite	ticsen	ticsens

References

• “tics”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “tics”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “tic”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)