chit
noun
Simple meaning
A child or babe.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chitIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
A pert or sassy young person, especially a young woman.
The embryonic growing bud of a plant.
A small tool used in cleaving laths. Compare: froe.
usslang
A debt or favor owed in return for a prior loan or favor granted, especially a political favor.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
Used this way, chit is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use chit
- “She was incensed that this chit of a girl should dare to make a fool of her in front of the class.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Light informal conversation for social occasions.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.