Definition of KITTLE

kittle

Verb

Verb Forms: kittled, kittling, kittles

  • To tickle or excite; to make skittish or difficult.
  • To tickle, to touch lightly.
  • To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.

Adj

  • Ticklish.
  • Not easily managed

Adjective

  • Ticklish; difficult to manage; skittish.

Examples

  • He hoped to kittle his opponent into making a mistake by playing a tricky word.
  • The opponent’s strategy was kittle, hard to predict or counter effectively.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English kitelen, from Old English citelian (“to tickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *kitilōn, from Proto-Germanic *kitilōną, frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *kitōną (“to tickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *geid- (“to stick, jab, tickle”).
Cognate with Dutch kittelen, kietelen (“to tickle”), Low German kettelen, ketelen (“to tickle”), German kitzeln (“to tickle”), Icelandic kitla (“to tickle”), Swedish kittla, kittsla, Danish kilde and perhaps Old Armenian կիծ- (kic-, “to sting, bite”). Compare tickle.

Scrabble Score: 10

kittle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
kittle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
kittle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

kittle: valid Words With Friends Word