This week’s theme
Words that sound dirty, but aren’t

This week’s words
autogamy
nudifidian
titman

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(TIT-muhn)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The smallest or weakest in a group, such as the runt of a litter.
2. A person of short stature, physically or metaphorically.

ETYMOLOGY:

From tit (any of various small birds), short for titmouse + man. Earliest documented use: 1807.

NOTES:

We’re all thinking about those perky little birds, aren’t we? Nothing titillating about this petite word, though it still might raise a titter or two. Handle with care.

USAGE:

“His stature was ridiculous, a small man, he was always the titman in his class in school, a regular runt.”
John Hersey; The Marmot Drive; Knopf; 1953.

“We are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper.”
Henry David Thoreau; Walden; Ticknor and Fields; 1854.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: