git

• get

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɪt/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt
• Homophone: ghit (one pronunciation)

From Middle English get (“[illegitimate] offspring”). A southern variant of Scots get (“illegitimate child, brat”), related to beget.^[1]

git (plural gits)

1. (British, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A silly, incompetent, stupid, or annoying person (usually a man).
   • 1968, “I'm So Tired”, in John Lennon (lyrics), The Beatles, performed by the Beatles:

     Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette / And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git

   • 1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

     Bit of a flash git, don't you think?

   • 2000 December 18, BBC and Bafta Tribute to Michael Caine, 16:43-17:05:

     Parkinson: You made films before, but the part that really made your name was Zulu, wasn't it […] and there of course—against type—you played the toff, you played the officer.
     Caine: I played the officer, yeah, and everybody thought I was like that. Everyone was so shocked when they met me, this like Cockney guy had played this toffee-nosed git.

   • 2007, Greg Weston, The Man Upstairs, →ISBN, page 124:

     Eventually God gives the donkey a voice and it says, "why're you beating me you great stupid git? It's the angel with the sword that you gotta be careful of," or words to that effect.

   • 2019, The Stupendium, “What a Fowl Day”:

     Here we see the common domestic goose, Anser cygnoides domesticus. Found across the British countryside, it is known for its distinctive call; proud, majestic stature; and for being an all-round inconsiderate little git!

   • 2020 December 16, Christian Wolmar, “Coverage of little-used stations does the railway no favours”, in RAIL, page 45:

     I'm not being a miserable old git here. I like a laugh as much as anyone, [...].

• Git is usually used as an insult, more severe than twit but less severe than a true profanity like wanker or arsehole, and may often be used affectionately between friends. Get can also be used, with a subtle change of meaning. "You cheeky get!" is slightly less harsh than "You cheeky git!".
• Git is frequently used in conjunction with another word to achieve a more specific meaning. For instance a "smarmy git" refers to a person of a slimy, ingratiating disposition; a "jammy git" would be a person with undeserved luck. The phrase "grumpy old git", denoting a cantankerous old man, is used with particular frequency.
• In parts of northern England, Ireland and Scotland, get is still used in preference to git.
• The word has been ruled by the Speaker of the House of Commons to be unparliamentary language.^[2][3]

git (third-person singular simple present gits, present participle gitting, simple past got, past participle gotten)

1. (Appalachia, Southern US, African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of get.
   • 1920 February 15, Wat Tell, “Cabbages and Kings”, in The Wichita Sunday Eagle, volume LXIX, number 69, Wichita, Kan., →OCLC, page 11, column 5:

     She say fust git a dime’s wuth of potatoes; den she say ‘No, git ten cents wuth of beans,’ den she change her min’ agin an’ say git a dime’s wuth of cabbages, an’ suh, when I brung them cabbages home, I’ll be dinged if she didn’t go an’ bang me on the haid with a coolin’ iron fo’ not gittin’ a quatah’s wuth of livah!

• git along
• git-go
• git gud

git (plural gits)

1. Alternative form of geat (channel in metal casting)

Likely chosen for its shortness and pronounceability, but various other explanations and backronyms were offered after its introduction.

git

1. (computing) Alternative letter-case form of Git, a distributed VCS.

• from the git

• GTi, IGT, TGI, TIG, tig

From Middle Dutch git, get, from Latin gagātēs (likely by way of Old French get, jaiet), from Ancient Greek γαγᾱ́της (gagā́tēs), possibly from Γάγας (Gágas, “a town and river in Lycia”). Doublet of gagaat.

• Audio:

  (file)

git n or f (plural gitten, diminutive gitje n)

1. (neuter) lignite
2. (neuter) jet (black, gemstone-like geological material)

   Synonym: (obsolete) gagaat

3. (masculine) a stone made of this material

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “git”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

• IPA^(key): /ʒi/

git

1. post-1990 spelling of gît (third-person singular present indicative of gésir)

Compare Hebrew גַּד (gad) (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

git n (indeclinable)

1. A plant (Nigella sativa), variously named black cumin, Roman coriander, or melanthion.

• “git”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• git in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • my mind forebodes misfortune: animus praesāgit malum
    

From Proto-West Germanic *jit, with the *i leveled in from *wit. Further from Proto-Germanic *jut. Cognate with North Frisian jat.

• IPA^(key): /jit/

ġit

1. (the second-person dual nominative) you two
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 20:22

     Þā andswarode him sē Hǣlend: "Ġit nyton hwæs ġit biddaþ."

     Then Jesus answered them: "You two don't know what you're asking for."

• Middle English: ȝit, ȝitt, ȝet

• IPA^(key): /jiːt/

ġīt

1. alternative form of ġīet

From Proto-West Germanic *jit, from Proto-Germanic *jut, remodeled in Proto-Northwest Germanic to *jit by analogy with *wit.

git

1. You two; nominative dual of thū

Borrowed from Yiddish גוט (gut).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it
• Syllabification: git
• Homophone: gid

git (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (colloquial) just right

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dobry

git (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) there you go

   Synonyms: fajnie, gitara, gites

git

1. (colloquial) excellent!

git m pers

1. (prison slang) member of a prison subculture that occupies the highest position in the internal hierarchy

• git in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• git in Polish dictionaries at PWN

git

1. song

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: git

git

1. second-person singular imperative of gitmek

git f

1. goodness

git (nominative plural gits)

1. law (body of binding rules and regulations, customs and standards)