twitter

See also: Twitter

English

Etymology

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɪtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɪtɚ/, [ˈtwɪɾɚ]
• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

twitter (plural twitters)

1. The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.

   I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.

2. Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
   • 1986, IEEE, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986 (page 145)

     Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.

Translations

sound made by birds

• Arabic: تَغْرِيد‎ m (taḡrīd)
• Finnish: sirkutus (fi), laulu (fi), viserrys
• German: Zwitschern n
• Italian: cinguettio (it) m

• Portuguese: piar (pt)
• Russian: ще́бет (ru) m (ščébet), щебета́ние (ru) n (ščebetánije), чири́канье (ru) n (čiríkanʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceilear m
• Swedish: kvitter (sv) n

Verb

twitter (third-person singular simple present twitters, present participle twittering, simple past and past participle twittered)

1. (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
   • 1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1825, The Works of Thomas Gray, Volume I, page 114,

     The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, / The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,

2. (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292, book VIII:

     […] it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me.

   • 2008, Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself the autobiography:

     "Tony will be so cross," I twittered as we crawled through the traffic. "He'll probably just go."

3. To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)

4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292:

     I have repented of it many’s the good time and oft. And if he was so good to forgive me a word spoken in haste or so, it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me. He was a husband to me, he was; and if ever I did make use of an ill word or so in a passion, I never called him rascal […]

6. Alternative form of Twitter
   • 2009 March 2, Michelle Levi, “McCain Criticizes Obama On The Senate Floor”, in CBS News^[1], retrieved 2 March 2009:

     In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious

Synonyms

• (internet neologism): tweet

Derived terms

• atwitter

Translations

to utter chirps

• Czech: cvrlikat (cs) impf
• Dutch: tjielpen
• Finnish: sirkuttaa
• German: zwitschern (de)

• Italian: cinguettare
• Maori: pekī, tihau
• Russian: щебета́ть (ru) impf (ščebetátʹ), чири́кать (ru) impf (čiríkatʹ), чири́кнуть (ru) pf (čiríknutʹ) (semelfactive)
• Swedish: kvittra (sv)

to speak nervously

• Finnish: höpöttää (fi)

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French

Alternative forms

• tweeter

Etymology

From English Twitter

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twi.te/

Verb

twitter

1. (transitive, intransitive, Internet) to tweet (to post to Twitter)

Conjugation

  Conjugation of twitter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		twitter			avoir twitté
gerund		en twittant			en ayant twitté
present participle		twittant /twi.tɑ̃/
past participle		twitté /twi.te/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	twitte /twit/	twittes /twit/	twitte /twit/	twittons /twi.tɔ̃/	twittez /twi.te/	twittent /twit/
	imperfect	twittais /twi.tɛ/	twittais /twi.tɛ/	twittait /twi.tɛ/	twittions /twi.tjɔ̃/	twittiez /twi.tje/	twittaient /twi.tɛ/
	past historic1	twittai /twi.te/	twittas /twi.ta/	twitta /twi.ta/	twittâmes /twi.tam/	twittâtes /twi.tat/	twittèrent /twi.tɛʁ/
	future	twitterai /twi.tʁe/	twitteras /twi.tʁa/	twittera /twi.tʁa/	twitterons /twi.tʁɔ̃/	twitterez /twi.tʁe/	twitteront /twi.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	twitterais /twi.tʁɛ/	twitterais /twi.tʁɛ/	twitterait /twi.tʁɛ/	twitterions /twi.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	twitteriez /twi.tə.ʁje/	twitteraient /twi.tʁɛ/
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	twitte /twit/	twittes /twit/	twitte /twit/	twittions /twi.tjɔ̃/	twittiez /twi.tje/	twittent /twit/
	imperfect1	twittasse /twi.tas/	twittasses /twi.tas/	twittât /twi.ta/	twittassions /twi.ta.sjɔ̃/	twittassiez /twi.ta.sje/	twittassent /twi.tas/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	twitte /twit/	—	twittons /twi.tɔ̃/	twittez /twi.te/	—
1literary tenses

Related terms

• twit (a tweet (a message on Twitter))
• tweet (a tweet (a message on Twitter))
• twittosphère
• twitteur