Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “bittily” come from?

bittily (English) comes from English bitty, from English bit, from Middle English bitte, from Old English byt, from Proto-Germanic *buttjā, from Latin buttia, from Ancient Greek βούττιον, from Ancient Greek -ῐον — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.

bittily (English): In a bitty way

Definitions

  1. In a bitty way

Ancestry of “bittily”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbittyContaining bits; fragmented; Very small;...
2EnglishbitA piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and...
3Middle Englishbitte—
4Old Englishbyt—
5Proto-Germanic*buttjā—
6Latinbuttia—
7Ancient Greekβούττιον—
8Ancient Greek-ῐονdiminutive suffix; "suffix forming...
9Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →