Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hoity-toity

/ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.52 in modern English

Syllables: hoity--toity
IPA: /ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/

19

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Behaviour adopted to demonstrate one's superiority; pretentious or snobbish behaviour; airs and graces.

Archaic; Uncountable

noun

Flighty, giddy, or silly behaviour; also, noisy merriment.

Obsolete; Uncountable

noun

A young woman regarded as flighty, giddy, or silly.

British usage; Countable

adj

Affected or pretentious, sometimes with the implication of displaying an air of excessive fanciness or ostentation; pompous, self-important, snobbish; often displaying a feeling of patronizing self-aggrandizing or arrogant class superiority.

adj

Flighty, giddy, silly; also, merry in a noisy manner.

Obsolete

adv

Flightily, giddily.

Obsolete

adv

Merrily, in a noisy manner.

Obsolete

intj

Expressing disapprobation or surprise at acts or words that are pompous or snobbish, or flighty.

Dated; Obsolete

Example Sentences

"[O]ne piece of early homage still / Exacted of you; after your three bouts / At hoitytoity, great men with long words, / And so forth,— […]"
"The VViddovvs I observ'd that vvere marching off, vvith the marque out of their mouths, vvere hugely concern'd to be thought Young, and ſtill talking of Maſques, Balls, Fiddles, Treats; Chanting and Jigging to every tune they heard, and all upon the Hoyty-Toyty like mad vvenches of fifteen."
"And I'll divert ye with my Hoyty toyty; / With Fortune's choicest Blessings may regale ye, / And Wealth, and Wine, and Women, never fail ye."
"If this [Georges] Danton were to burst your meshwork!—Very curious indeed to consider. It turns on a hair: and what a Hoitytoity was there, Justice and Culprit changing places; and the whole History of France running changed!"
"Whily Kate the Brown, the Plump, / The Frowzy Browzy, / Hoyty Toyty, / Covent-Garden Harridan, / Soon made poor Jockey’s Head to Ake, / And spoyl’d him for a merry Man."
"[S]ee what hoity-toity airs she took[…]."

Etymology

Probably from hoit (“to behave frivolously and thoughtlessly; to play the fool”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: hoit

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/
British English: /ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/

Usage

Inflected Forms

hoity-toities (plural) hoitytoity (alternative) hoity toity (alternative) hoity-toitier (comparative) hoity-toitiest (superlative) more hoity-toity (comparative) most hoity-toity (superlative)

Phrases

hoity-toitily hoity-toitiness

Synonyms

affectations airs huffiness pretensions flightiness giddiness silliness frolic high jinks romping

Questions

How do you pronounce hoity-toity?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/.
What does hoity-toity mean?: Behaviour adopted to demonstrate one's superiority; pretentious or snobbish behaviour; airs and graces.
Where does hoity-toity come from?: Probably from hoit (“to behave frivolously and thoughtlessly; to play the fool”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

How to pronounce hoity-toity

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