titmouse
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg/220px-Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg)
Etymology
From Middle English titmose, compound of tit (“small bird”) and mose, from Old English māse (“titmouse”), from Proto-Germanic *maisǭ (compare Dutch mees, German Meise, Old Norse meisingr, French mésange), from *maisaz (“tiny, puny”) (compare Norwegian meis (“skinny weakling”)). Spelling as well as the plural form in imitation of the otherwise unrelated mouse.
Pronunciation
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Noun
titmouse (plural titmouses or titmice)
- Any small passerine bird of the family Paridae, which are found in the woods of the Northern Hemisphere and of Africa.
Synonyms
Translations
Any bird of the family Paridae
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See also
- chickadee
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- Baeolophus
- Melanochlora
- Sylviparus
References
- “titmouse, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Tits