kittle

Meanings

1. To tickle, to touch lightly.

1. Ticklish.
2. Not easily managed

1. To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.

1. A surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Fulton County, Arkansas, United States.
3. A village in Pennard community, City and County of Swansea, Wales (OS grid ref SS5789).

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 *geyd- (“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”), but note that many such words are sound-symbolic. Compare tickle.