See nitwit in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"3": "ניט"
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"name": "compound"
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"etymology_text": "First attested in the 1910s in the US Northeast. Likely from German nit, dialectal form of nichts (“nothing”), or Yiddish ניט (nit), dialectal form of נישט (nisht, “no”), although some dictionaries give the alternative etymology nit (“louse egg; something very small”) + wit.",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1918, State Bar Association of Connecticut, Annual Report, page 82:",
"text": "If you don't remember you are a nitwit. If you do answer, well, you know what the penalty is for perjury.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1921, Emmett Campbell Hall, “Need a Hero be a Nitwit?”, in The Editor, page 58:",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1922, Nina Wilcox Putnam, Laughter Inc:",
"text": "\"Don't be a nitwit, honey!\" says Adele. \"Here, let me open the door! Ma be I did leave them lights on, though it ain't ike me!\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A scatterbrained or stupid person."
],
"id": "en-nitwit-en-noun-72r9Rgfp",
"links": [
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"scatterbrained",
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[
"stupid",
"stupid"
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[
"person",
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(informal) A scatterbrained or stupid person."
],
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "glupak",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "глупак"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "Schwachkopf"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "Dummkopf"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sciocco"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "poroheahea"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "hākawa"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "pōrewarewa"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "ngoungoua"
},
{
"code": "pl",
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"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
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"masculine"
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"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "bezvèznjāk"
},
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"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "budàla"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "blèsan"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "zvèkan"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "enayi"
}
]
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],
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{
"ipa": "/ˈnɪtwɪt/",
"tags": [
"US"
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"word": "nitwit"
}
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"1": "en",
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"expansion": "Yiddish ניט (nit)",
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"2": "nit",
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"gloss1": "louse egg; something very small"
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"expansion": "nit (“louse egg; something very small”) + wit",
"name": "compound"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First attested in the 1910s in the US Northeast. Likely from German nit, dialectal form of nichts (“nothing”), or Yiddish ניט (nit), dialectal form of נישט (nisht, “no”), although some dictionaries give the alternative etymology nit (“louse egg; something very small”) + wit.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "nitwits",
"tags": [
"plural"
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"args": {},
"expansion": "nitwit (plural nitwits)",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1918, State Bar Association of Connecticut, Annual Report, page 82:",
"text": "If you don't remember you are a nitwit. If you do answer, well, you know what the penalty is for perjury.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1921, Emmett Campbell Hall, “Need a Hero be a Nitwit?”, in The Editor, page 58:",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1922, Nina Wilcox Putnam, Laughter Inc:",
"text": "\"Don't be a nitwit, honey!\" says Adele. \"Here, let me open the door! Ma be I did leave them lights on, though it ain't ike me!\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"A scatterbrained or stupid person."
],
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"scatterbrained",
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],
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"(informal) A scatterbrained or stupid person."
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{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "glupak",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "глупак"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "Schwachkopf"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Dummkopf"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sciocco"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "poroheahea"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "hākawa"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "pōrewarewa"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "ngoungoua"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "głupek"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "bezvèznjāk"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "budàla"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "blèsan"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "zvèkan"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "scatterbrained or stupid person",
"word": "enayi"
}
],
"word": "nitwit"
}
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.