What does clittered mean?
"Clittered" is the past tense of the chiefly dialectal verb "clitter," which describes a light, rapid rattling or clinking sound made by small hard objects moving against one another — pebbles tumbling down a slope, slates shifting on a roof, or marbles scattering across a floor. The word belongs to a family of imitative English verbs formed on the syllable "clit-/clat-", echoing the noise itself, much like "clatter" and its reduplicated cousin "clitter-clatter." It is heard and written mainly in Northern English and Scots contexts, and it carries a distinctly rural, traditional flavour: a writer choosing "clittered" over "rattled" signals an ear for local speech and a taste for precise, evocative sound words. Although now uncommon in everyday conversation, it survives in dialect literature and remains a vivid alternative when describing faint, quick, stony noises.
verb (past tense/past participle of 'clitter')Made a light, rapid rattling or clinking sound, as of small hard objects falling or moving against one another.
- To have made a light, rapid rattling or clinking sound, typically of small stones or hard objects in motion.
"The pebbles clittered down the hillside as she scrambled up the path."
"Loose slate clittered from the roof whenever the wind picked up."
"The marbles clittered across the wooden floor and scattered into the corners."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of clittered
The verb "clitter" is of Germanic origin and is imitative in nature, formed on the same echoic pattern as "clatter" and related northern dialect forms such as "clitter-clatter." These sound-words arose natively within English and Scots rather than being borrowed, their repeated consonants mimicking a rattling noise. Cognates appear in other Germanic languages with similar clattering senses, reflecting a shared tradition of onomatopoeic formation.
Related word forms
How clittered is actually used
A rare regional word, chiefly found in Northern English and Scots dialect writing; largely replaced by 'clattered' or 'rattled' in standard usage.
Easily confused with clittered
'Glittered' means shone with a bright sparkling light, whereas 'clittered' refers to making a rattling sound.
'Clattered' denotes a louder, heavier rattling noise than the light, faint clittering of small objects.