Tish

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A familiar nickname for a woman or girl named Letitia, used as a shortened form of that given name
2. A diminutive used as a pet name or short form of the female first name Letitia
3. The informal shortened version of the girl's name Letitia, often used by family and friends

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "tish" is that it is a close relative of "desk," "dais," "dish," and "discus," all of which trace back to the same ancient Latin and Greek root meaning a flat, round or table-like object. The English word itself came from Yiddish, where "tish" means "table," and it reached English as a borrowed term. Its history in English is less clear-cut than its origin, and its most common use today is as a piece of slang rather than a neutral noun. In English slang, "tish" is backslang, a form of word-reversal in which syllables or sounds are flipped to disguise meaning. Here it stands for "shit," so the word is an inversion of a vulgar term rather than a continuation of the Yiddish sense. Readers meeting it in this form should understand that the Yiddish and slang senses share a sound but not a line of descent.