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teat - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English tete, from Old French tete (teat) (compare French tette), from Frankish *tittā, *tittō, from Proto-Germanic *tittaz (teat; nipple; breast), ultimately of expressive origin. Compare Old High German zizza ("teat"; modern German Zitze), whence also Italian zizza (teat).

It heavily displaced Old English titt, a cognate of the same origin, which survives as tit, but in more vulgar use. Compare Dutch tiet and German Zitze (teat).

teat (plural teats)

  1. (anatomy) The projection of a mammary gland from which, on female therian mammals, milk is secreted.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 107:

      Milk formed their chief diet, and this they were supposed to imbibe from the witch herself, from a third "teat" which had been made beneath the arm by a nip from the Devil's pincers.

    Synonyms: tit (now vulgar), pap, nipple, dug
  2. Something resembling a teat, such as a small protuberance or nozzle.
  3. An artificial nipple used for bottle-feeding infants.

projection of mammary gland

feeding bottle top

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