dit

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dit"

Languages (24)

English

---

Afrikaans • Aromanian • Basque • Breton • Catalan • Central Franconian • Danish • Dutch • French • Friulian • German • Indonesian • Louisiana Creole • Low German • Middle Dutch • Middle French • North Frisian • Norwegian • Occitan • Old French • Scots • Swedish • West Frisian

---

Page categories

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĭt, IPA^(key): /dɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Etymology 1

From Middle English ditten, dutten, from Old English dyttan (“to stop up, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *duttijan, from Proto-Germanic *duttijaną, from *duttaz (“wisp”), akin to Icelandic dytta. Related to Old English dott (“dot, point”). More at dot.

Verb

dit (third-person singular simple present dits, present participle ditting, simple past and past participle ditted)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England) To stop up; block (an opening); close (compare Scots dit).
2. (obsolete) To close up.
   • 1599, James VI and I, Basilikon Doron:

     that I would haue thought my sincere plainnesse in that first part vpon that subiect, should haue ditted the mouth of the most enuious Momus

Related terms

• dottle

Etymology 2

Variant of dite.

Noun

dit (plural dits)

1. (obsolete, rare) A ditty, a little melody.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     No bird, but did her shrill notes sweetly sing; / No song but did containe a louely dit: / Trees, braunches, birds, and songs were framed fit [...].

2. (obsolete) A word; a decree.

Etymology 3

Imitative.

Noun

dit (plural dits)

1. The spoken representation of a dot in radio and telegraph Morse code.

Translations

spoken representation of a dot in radio and telegraph Morse code

• Finnish: ti (fi)
• French: ti (fr) m
• Hungarian: ti (hu)
• Japanese: トン (ja) (ton)
• Russian: то́чка (ru) f (tóčka)

See also

• dah

Etymology 4

Shortening.

Noun

dit (plural dits)

1. (information theory) decimal digit

Derived terms

• qudit

Etymology 5

From French dit (“called”). Doublet of ditto.

Adjective

dit (not comparable)

1. (Canada, obsolete) Indicator of a declared surname originating from Canadian French.

Related terms

• on dit

Etymology 6

Noun

dit (plural dits)

1. (UK, military, slang) An anecdote or yarn.
   • 2022, Paul Tremelling, Harrier: How To Be a Fighter Pilot:

     Spinning dits comes with a few guidelines. The established dit litany is fairly simple: you must simply state a geographic datum for the dit, followed by the amount of alcohol that had been consumed immediately prior to the events […]

See also

• dit da jow

Anagrams

• DTI, IDT, TDI, TID, it'd, tid

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• 't (Cape Afrikaans)

Etymology

From Dutch dit (“this”), from Middle Dutch dit, from Old Dutch thit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dət/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

dit (possessive sy)

1. it, this, that (subject and object)
   1. referring to the context

      Dit lyk baie moeilik.

      It seems very difficult.

   2. referring to something seen or heard in the real world

      Dit is ’n huis. ― This is a house.

   3. referring to non-personal singular nouns

      Sy het my die boek gegee, maar ek het dit nog nie gelees nie.

      She gave me the book, but I haven’t read it yet.

Usage notes

• Dit is is commonly contracted to dis, both in speech and writing: Dis 'n huis.

Synonyms

• (referring to something seen or heard): hierdie; daardie (both more demonstrative)
• (referring to non-personal singulars): hy, hom

Derived terms

• dis

Related terms

• die, dié

See also

Afrikaans personal pronouns

			subjective	objective	possessive determiner	possessive pronoun
singular	1st		ek	my		myne
	2nd		jy	jou		joune
	2nd, formal		u			u s’n
	3rd	masc	hy	hom	sy	syne
		fem	sy	haar		hare
		neut	dit		sy	syne
plural	1st		ons			ons s’n
	2nd		julle / jul1			julle s’n
	3rd		hulle / hul1			hulle s’n

¹ The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• ditu, ditru, din

Etymology

From Latin de-inter.

Preposition

dit

1. from

Related terms

• dintrã
• ditrã

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dit/ [d̪it̪]
• Rhymes: -it
• Hyphenation: dit

Verb

dit (masculine allocutive zidak, feminine allocutive zidan)

1. third-person singular, with first-person singular indirect object and singular direct object, present indicative of izan (transitive auxiliary)

Breton

Pronoun

dit

1. second-person singular of da

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈdit]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin digitus. Doublet of dígit. Cognate with Occitan det and dit, French doigt, Spanish dedo and dígito, Portuguese dedo and dígito, and Galician dedo.

Noun

dit m (plural dits)

1. finger, toe
2. fingerbreadth

   tres o quatre dits d'ample

   three or four finger(breadth)s wide

Derived terms

• com l'anell al dit
• ditet

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin dictus.

Participle

dit (feminine dita, masculine plural dits, feminine plural dites)

1. past participle of dir

Derived terms

• dita
• propdit

Further reading

• “dit”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “dit”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• diss (as neuter singular, especially Kölsch)
• det, dess (widespread vocalic variant)

Etymology

From Middle High German diser m, whose neuter was dit in Central Franconian (other Middle High German diz). The regular outcome would be disse vs. det. The vocalic variation was levelled one way or the other in all dialects. Levelling of the consonantism remained optional and probably occurred only after the determiner had been chiefly restricted to periods of time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dit/
• (masculine disse) /ˈdizə/

Determiner

dit (masculine disse, feminine and plural diss)

1. this, the current

   disse Mond ― this month

   diss Woch ― this week

   dit Johr ― this year

2. (very rare) this, the one right here

   Synonyms: dat, hee dat, dat ... hee

Danish

Pronoun

dit (common din, plural dine)

1. (possessive) neuter singular of din

See also

Danish personal pronouns

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					common	neuter	plural
Singular	First	–	jeg	mig	min	mit	mine
	Second	modern / informal	du	dig	din	dit	dine
		formal (uncommon)	De	Dem	Deres
	Third	masculine (person)	han	ham	hans
		feminine (person)	hun	hende	hendes
		common (noun)	den		dens
		neuter (noun)	det		dets
		indefinite	man	en	ens
		reflexive	–	sig	sin	sit	sine
Plural	First	modern	vi	os	vores
		archaic / formal			vor	vort	vore
	Second	–	I	jer	jeres
	Third	–	de	dem	deres
		reflexive	–	sig

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch dit, from Old Dutch thit. Cognate with German dies.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Dit
• Hyphenation: dit
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Determiner

dit n (proximal demonstrative)

1. neuter singular of deze (“this”); referring to a thing or a person closer by.

   dit huis

   this house

   dit kind

   this child

Declension

Dutch proximal demonstrative

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	deze	deze	dit	deze
genitive1	dezes	dezer	dezes	dezer
dative1	dezen	dezer	dezen	dezen
accusative1	dezen	deze	dit	deze
1) Archaic

Derived terms

• dit en dat
• ditjes en datjes
• ditmaal

Descendants

• Afrikaans: dit
• Jersey Dutch: dit

Pronoun

dit n (proximal demonstrative)

1. neuter singular of deze; this, this here

   Wat is dit?

   What is this?

Usage notes

This pronoun can combine with a preposition to form a pronominal adverb. When this occurs, it is changed into its adverbial/locative counterpart hier. See also Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs.

See also

Dutch demonstrative determiners

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
proximal	deze	deze	dit	deze
distal	die	die	dat	die
possessive	diens	dier	diens	dier

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di/

  • Audio (Paris):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

    (file)

  • Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Lyon)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Somain)):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From Old French dit, from Latin dictus.

Noun

dit m (plural dits)

2. (dated) a sentence, saying or maxim

   Les Dits des sept sages

   The Sayings of the Seven Sages

4. (historical, literature) a story from the mediæval period; a tale

   Le Dit du Genji

   The Tale of Genji

Participle

dit (feminine dite, masculine plural dits, feminine plural dites)

2. past participle of dire

   Il a dit son nom. ― He said his name.

4. (in names) Indicating a surname used as a family name.

Derived terms

• ledit
• leurdit
• lieu-dit
• mondit
• notredit
• sondit
• susdit
• tondit
• votredit

Etymology 2

From Middle French dit, from Latin dīcit, third-person singular present active indicative of dīcō.

Verb

dit

2. third-person singular present indicative of dire

Etymology 3

From Middle French dist, from Latin dīxit, third-person singular perfect active indicative of dīcō.

Verb

dit

2. third-person singular past historic of dire

   « Je m'appelle Paul, » dit-il. ― “My name is Paul,” he said.

Further reading

• “dit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin dictus, dictum.

Verb

dit

1. past participle of dî

Adjective

dit

1. said

Noun

dit m (plural dits)

1. saying, maxim

German

Alternative forms

• düt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪt/, /dʏt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Pronoun

dit

1. (colloquial, regional, north-eastern Germany, including Berlin) synonym of das

   Kann man dit irgendwie ändern?

   Can this be changed somehow?

   Wie oft muss ick ’n dir dit noch sagen?

   How many times do I have to tell you this?

Indonesian

Noun

dit

1. (law enforcement) clipping of direktorat (“directorate”)

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French dire (“to tell”), compare Haitian Creole di.

Verb

dit

1. to tell

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Low German

Alternative forms

• düt

Pronoun

dit n

1. this

See also

• disse (dissen)

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronoun

dit

1. this

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Determiner

dit

1. neuter nominative/accusative singular of dese

Further reading

• “dit”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “dit”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin dīcit.

Verb

dit

1. third-person singular present indicative of dire

Descendants

• French: dit

North Frisian

Article

dit

1. (Sylt) the (neuter singular)

Usage notes

• Besides personal and possessive pronouns, dit is the only gendered form in Sylt Frisian, as gender distinctions in determiners and adjectives have been lost (unlike other North Frisian dialects). This causes a marked tendency to abolish grammatical gender altogether (compare the article template below). The distinction of the neuter is mainly stabilized by Standard German influence; gender distribution, when applied, therefore tends to follow closely the German pattern.

Alternative forms

• det (Föhr-Amrum), dåt (Mooring)

See also

Articles (Sylt dialect)

		singular		plural
		m / f	n
definite / demonstrative	full	di	dit	di
	reduced	—
indefinite / numeral	full	jen		—
	reduced	en
negative		niin

Spoken Sylt Frisian has a strong tendency to generalize di and thereby abolish grammatical gender. However, dit is usually maintained with nominalized adjectives and infinitives.
Total reduction of the definite article is very common after prepositions, otherwise exceptional.

• de, jü, da, dön

Norwegian

Adverb

dit

1. to that place; thither

Occitan

Alternative forms

• det

Etymology

From Latin digitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [dit]

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

dit m (plural dits)

1. finger

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin dictum.

Noun

dit oblique singular, m (oblique plural diz or ditz, nominative singular diz or ditz, nominative plural dit)

1. word
2. story; tale

Synonyms

• conte
• lai

Etymology 2

From Latin dictus.

Verb

dit

1. past participle of dire
2. third-person singular present indicative of dire
3. third-person singular past historic of dire

Descendants

• French: dit

Scots

Alternative forms

• dyt, ditt

Etymology

From Early Scots ditt or dyt, from Old English dyttan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪt/
• (Hawick) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪʔ/

Verb

dit (third-person singular simple present dits, present participle ditin, simple past and past participle ditt)

1. to close (especially of a door or mouth)
2. to block or stop up (of an opening)
3. to obstruct, especially from view
4. to darken or dim (in the sense of obscuring light)
5. of the sun: to sink or to be obscured by clouds

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish þit, from Old Norse þít, according to SAOB likely from þí + at. þí is in turn an old locative, possibly related to Gothic 𐌸𐌴𐌹 (þei), and more distantly to Ancient Greek τεῖ (teî) in τεῖδε (teîde, “thither”). Equivalent to ty + åt.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

dit (not comparable)

1. to there, thither, (often in practice, in translations) there

   Antonym: hit (“to here, hither”)

   Jag gick dit, så nu är jag där

   I went [to] there, so now I am there

   Jag gick där [for comparison]

   I was walking there / I was walking at that location

   Jag har aldrig varit i London, men jag ska dit snart

   I've never been to London, but I'm going [to] there soon [see ska for why there is no resa (“travel”), åka (“go”), or the like]

   springa hit och dit

   run to here and to there / run hither and thither [indicating for example chaos or a lack of direction]

2. (relative) to where, where (expresses movement to a place)

   staden dit de flyttade

   the city [to] where / to which they moved

   • 1973, Landslaget, “Tala om vart du ska resa [Tell me where you are traveling [to where you shall (are going to) travel]]”‎^[1]:

     Ta mig dit där solen skiner, dit där himlen jämt är blå, dit där sjöarna är klara, dit jag alltid velat gå.

     Take me [to] where ["to where, where ..." – second "where" from "där"] the sun shines, [to] where [where] the sky is always blue, [to] where [where] the lakes are clear, [to] where I've always wanted ["have wanted" – "have" implied from supine] to go [walk].

See also

• där (“there, as a location”)
• ditåt (“that way”)
• ty
• vart

References

• “dit”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “dit”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “dit”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Anagrams

• tid

West Frisian

Determiner

dit

1. neuter singular of dizze