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git

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is a variant from English get (“offspring, brat; fool”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] a noun formed from the verb in the sense "to beget",[8][9] which is from Old Norse geta.[3] Etymonline describes it as a southern form of the Scots word for an illegitimate child or brat, and relates it to beget, on the notion of "what is got".[8] The OED says that git is now generally felt to be a distinct word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fool, a worthless person: 1858, in W. Pratt's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, "Oh, you git, with your story-book talk!"[7] The OED's first record is from 1939, Merriam-Webster's from 1929, and Etymonline dates the word to 1946.[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

The source noun get meant offspring or a child from before 1400; from the early 16th century it was used in Scotland, Ireland and the north of England for a brat or a child born to unmarried parents.[2][9] A Scottish record of 1706 calls someone a witch gyt or bratt, and Scots get could also be an affectionate word for a child.[8] From 1940 get was used colloquially for a fool or a contemptible person,[2] and git became the usual British form of the insult.[2][9][5] Green's Dictionary of Slang records the adjective gittish, foolish, in 2011.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – the source noun get, offspring, child.[2]
  • c. 1513 – get for a brat or a child born to unmarried parents, in Scots.[2]
  • 1706 – Scots gyt, a brat.[8]
  • 1858 – git, a fool, a worthless person.[7]
  • 1939 – an unpleasant or contemptible man or woman.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1929, Etymonline to 1946.[5][8]
  • 2011 – gittish, foolish.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (British, slang) An unpleasant or contemptible person, usually a man: Don't listen to that smug git.[9][2][5]
  2. (British, slang) A foolish or worthless person.[5][4][7]
  3. (British, slang) A child of unmarried parents; a bastard.[9]
  • get
  • beget

Usage notes

In American use git is also a spelling of the verb get as it is pronounced in some speech, as in git out.[10] In Northumberland git was the channel of a mould through which molten metal is poured, and the piece of metal left in it after casting.[11]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)