tic

See also: TIC, Tic, and -tic

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk
• Homophone: tick

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French tic.

Noun

tic (plural tics)

1. (neurology) A sudden, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization.
   • 2020, Andrea E. Cavanna, Pharmacological Treatment of Tics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by multiple tics. A tic is a sudden, rapid, repetitive, non-rhythmic movement (e.g. eye blinking) or vocalization (e.g. throat clearing).

2. (by extension) Something that is done or produced habitually or characteristically.
   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Boyle revives some of the stylistic tics which found themselves being ripped off by geezer-gangster Britflicks back in the day, but now the freezeframes are briefer, sharper; the movie itself refers back to the original with variant flashback versions of famous scenes, but also Super 8-type images of the boys’ poignant boyhood in primary school.

Translations

local and habitual convulsive motion

• Bulgarian: тик m (tik)
• Catalan: tic m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抽搐 (zh) (chōuchù)

• Czech: tik (cs) m
• Dutch: tic (nl) m
• Esperanto: tiko
• Finnish: nykimisoire
• French: tic (fr) m
• German: Tic (de) m, Zucken (de) n, nervöses Zucken n
• Japanese: チック (ja) (chikku)
• Macedonian: тик m (tik)
• Polish: tik (pl)
• Portuguese: tique (pt), cacoete (pt)
• Romanian: tic (ro) n
• Russian: тик (ru) m (tik), не́рвный тик m (nérvnyj tik), подёргивание (ru) n (podjórgivanije)
• Spanish: tic (es) m
• Swedish: ryckning (sv) c, tic ?
• Urdu: حرکی f (harki)

Verb

tic (third-person singular simple present tics, present participle ticcing, simple past and past participle ticced)

1. (intransitive) To exhibit a tic; to undergo a sudden, semi-voluntary muscle movement.
   • 2020, Andrea E. Cavanna, Pharmacological Treatment of Tics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Patients often describe the need to tic as the mounting of inner tension, localized either to the body region where the tic is about to occur or throughout the body.

Translations

to undergo a muscle movement

• Esperanto: tiki
• Maori: timu, tumu

Etymology 2

Clipping of ticket.

Noun

tic (plural tics)

1. (informal) Clipping of ticket.

Derived terms

• tix

See also

• tic douloureux
• tic tac
• tic-tac-toe
• trip tic

 

Further reading

• tic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• CTI, ICT, TCI, cit, cit.

Acholi

Noun

tic

1. work

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈtik]

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic

Further reading

• “tic” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “tic”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “tic” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tik/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: tique

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic

Descendants

• → English: tic
• → German: Tic
• → Portuguese: tique

Further reading

• “tic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtik/
• Rhymes: -ik
• Hyphenation: tìc

Noun

tic m (invariable)

1. tic, twitch

Latvian

Verb

tic

1. third-person singular/plural present indicative of ticēt
2. (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of ticēt
3. (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of ticēt

Romanian

Noun

tic n (plural ticuri)

1. Obsolete form of spic.

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	tic	ticul		ticuri	ticurile
genitive-dative	tic	ticului		ticuri	ticurilor
vocative	ticule			ticurilor

References

• tic in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtik/ [ˈt̪ik]
• Rhymes: -ik
• Syllabification: tic

Noun

tic m (plural tics)

1. tic (movement)
2. tick (written mark)
3. tick (sound)

Related terms

• tictac/tic-tac
• tictaquear

Further reading

• “tic”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French tic. Attested since 1885.

Noun

tic n

1. (neurology, chiefly in the plural) a tic
2. (colloquial, figuratively, chiefly in the plural) (unreasonable) compulsory behavior, a tic

Declension

Declension of tic

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	tic	tics
	definite	ticet	ticets
plural	indefinite	tics	tics
	definite	ticsen	ticsens

References

• tics in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• tics in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• tic in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)