titmouse

From Middle English titmose, compound of tit (“small bird”) and Old English māse (“titmouse”), from Proto-Germanic *maisǭ (compare Dutch mees, German Meise, Old Norse meisingr, French mésange), from *maisaz (“tiny, puny”) (compare Norwegian meis (“skinny weakling”)). The plural is formed in imitation of the otherwise unrelated mouse.

titmouse (plural titmouses or titmice)

1. Any small passerine bird of the family Paridae, which are found in the woods of the Northern Hemisphere and of Africa.

• tit

• chickadee
• Pseudopodoces
• Baeolophus
• Melanochlora
• Sylviparus

• time outs, time-outs, timeouts, times out, tsumoite