twit1
/twɪt
/noun informal, chiefly British
A silly or foolish person.Both camps, according to White House insiders, are silly twits....
- He thought of them as the lowest of low in the class known as CTJN class, the ‘creeps, twits, jerks and nerds’ class.
- While I'd seen my fair share of mediocre upper middle-class twits leapfrog their contemporaries, I really believed that the results-driven media game was largely a meritocracy.
Derivatives
twittish
- Those who report on Washington, write columns or work on editorials are among the most twittish.
- I think what you didn't realize is how twittish and silly your non-helpful post is in a group like this.
- By the way, since you responded: Shall I take this as a sign that you are a twittish loser?
Origin
1930s (earlier dialect, in the sense 'talebearer'): perhaps from twit2.
The kind of twit that is a silly or foolish person dates only from the 1930s and comes from an English dialect use that meant ‘a tale-bearer’. It may come from twit in the sense ‘to tease or taunt someone, especially in a good-humoured way’, which is a shortening of Old English ætwītan ‘reproach with’.
Rhymes
twit2
/twɪt/verb (twits, twitting, twitted) [with object] informal
Tease or taunt (someone), especially in a good-humoured way: her playmates could not twit her about her pigtail...
- Three cheers therefore for the man, who a day later in The Times skilfully twitted his ignorant colleague.
- I like to twit my family somewhat, as this will show.
- A Rastafarian waving a flag twitted me as I pushed through the noisy crowd.
Origin
Old English ætwītan 'reproach with', from æt 'at' + wītan 'to blame'.