titmouse

 

From Middle English titmose, compound of tit (“small bird”) and mose, from Old English māse (“titmouse”), from Proto-West Germanic *maisā, 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.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪtmaʊs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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titmouse (plural titmice or titmouses)

1. Any small passerine bird of the family Paridae, which are found in the woods of the Northern Hemisphere and of Africa.

• tit

• chickadee
• Pseudopodoces
• Baeolophus
• Melanochlora
• Sylviparus

•   titmouse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “titmouse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “titmouse, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.

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