titivil means A mischievous gossip or a troublemaker. It carries an Arena rating of 1686, earned across 47 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, titivil ranks #63 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #157 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #477 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #534 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
titivil is pronounced /ˈtɪtɪvɪl/.
Why “titivil” is a great word
TITIVIL — [Noun] A mischievous gossip or troublemaker, originally a demon said to collect mumbled or omitted words in religious services. The name descends from Titivillus, a fiend of medieval tradition charged with introducing errors into scribes’ work and gathering misspoken prayers in mystery plays. Unlike a "gossip" (which merely trades in rumor) or an "imp" (a generic sprite), a titivil is a specialized agent of literary and liturgical sabotage, a curator of verbal chaff. It is the gleaner of half-hearted hymns, the archivist of scribal slips, and the invisible presence in a room where a whispered aside takes root and grows—the personification of the chaos that feeds on inattention.
Etymology
From Titivillus, a demon said to introduce errors into the work of scribes. Used in medieval mystery plays, from which it entered common usage.
noun
- A mischievous gossip or a troublemaker.e.g.“There is no moe such titifyls in Englandes ground, / To hold with the hare and run with the hound.” — 1546, John Heywood, The Proverbs of John Heywood, London: George Bell and Sons, published 1874, page 40:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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