"pitter-patter" meaning in English

See pitter-patter in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈpɪt.əˈpæt.ə/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈpɪt.ɚˈpæt.ɚ/ [General-American] Audio: en-us-pitter-patter.ogg [US]
Etymology: Reduplication of patter. Etymology templates: {{reduplication|en|patter}} Reduplication of patter Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} pitter-patter (uncountable)
  1. A soft, percussive sound, as of tiny feet, or of rain on a rooftop. Tags: uncountable Categories (topical): Sounds Translations (soft percussive sound): tepsutus (english: tiny feet) (Finnish), ropina (english: rain) (Finnish), Getapse (note: of feet) [neuter] (German), scalpiccìo (english: tiny feet) [masculine] (Italian), picchiettìo (english: rain) [masculine] (Italian), ぱたぱたと (patapata) (Japanese), しとしと (Japanese), lộp độp (Vietnamese), bôm bốp (Vietnamese)

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for pitter-patter meaning in English (3.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "patter"
      },
      "expansion": "Reduplication of patter",
      "name": "reduplication"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Reduplication of patter.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "pitter-patter (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English apophonic reduplications",
          "parents": [
            "Apophonic reduplications",
            "Reduplications",
            "Terms by etymology"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English reduplications",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sounds",
          "orig": "en:Sounds",
          "parents": [
            "Sound",
            "Energy",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 237",
          "text": "Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and there were more bird-like sounds, but that was all.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A soft, percussive sound, as of tiny feet, or of rain on a rooftop."
      ],
      "id": "en-pitter-patter-en-noun-TEg7AI1W",
      "links": [
        [
          "soft",
          "soft"
        ],
        [
          "percussive",
          "percussive"
        ],
        [
          "sound",
          "sound"
        ],
        [
          "tiny",
          "tiny"
        ],
        [
          "feet",
          "feet"
        ],
        [
          "rain",
          "rain"
        ],
        [
          "rooftop",
          "rooftop"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "tiny feet",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "tepsutus"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "rain",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "ropina"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "note": "of feet",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Getapse"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "english": "tiny feet",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "scalpiccìo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "english": "rain",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "picchiettìo"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "patapata",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "ぱたぱたと"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "しとしと"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "lộp độp"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "soft percussive sound",
          "word": "bôm bốp"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɪt.əˈpæt.ə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɪt.ɚˈpæt.ɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-pitter-patter.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4a/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pitter-patter"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "patter"
      },
      "expansion": "Reduplication of patter",
      "name": "reduplication"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Reduplication of patter.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "pitter-patter (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 4-syllable words",
        "English apophonic reduplications",
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English onomatopoeias",
        "English reduplications",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "en:Sounds"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 237",
          "text": "Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and there were more bird-like sounds, but that was all.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A soft, percussive sound, as of tiny feet, or of rain on a rooftop."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "soft",
          "soft"
        ],
        [
          "percussive",
          "percussive"
        ],
        [
          "sound",
          "sound"
        ],
        [
          "tiny",
          "tiny"
        ],
        [
          "feet",
          "feet"
        ],
        [
          "rain",
          "rain"
        ],
        [
          "rooftop",
          "rooftop"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɪt.əˈpæt.ə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɪt.ɚˈpæt.ɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-pitter-patter.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4a/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/En-us-pitter-patter.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "tiny feet",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "tepsutus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "rain",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "ropina"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "note": "of feet",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Getapse"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "english": "tiny feet",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "scalpiccìo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "english": "rain",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "picchiettìo"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "patapata",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "ぱたぱたと"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "しとしと"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "lộp độp"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "soft percussive sound",
      "word": "bôm bốp"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pitter-patter"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (ae36afe and 304864d). 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.