Etymology

titmouse

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Today it means: Any small passerine bird mostly of the genus Baeolophus, which are found in the woods of the Northern Hemisphere and of Africa. Full definition →

Middle English titmose ← Old English māse ← Proto-West Germanic *maisā
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*maisǭ
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*maisā
  3. Old English · derived frommāse“titmouse”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromtitmose
  5. English todaytitmouse

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.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishtitmose all →

Titmus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.