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Glite Dictionary
💧 Light tapping sounds 💓 In a quick way 🌧️ To tap quickly
to pitter-patter

to pitter-patter

5.8
To make a series of light, quick tapping sounds like rain or small footsteps
  • verb
  • /ˈpɪtərˌpætər/
translation icon : golpetear
  • The children ran outside to play as they heard the rain start to pitter-patter on the pavement.

Examples

  • Emma looks, sees rain start to pitter-patter on the windows.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The woman flipped the page; a few nutshells pitter-pattered.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I love the sound of the rain as it pitter-patters against the roof.

  • As I walked home, I could hear the leaves pitter-pattering under my feet.

Synonyms

to sprinkle
vsto pitter-patter
8 1.0

To rain lightly in small drops

focuses on the quick light sounds those drops make rather than the fall
to patter
vsto pitter-patter
4 4.4

To make quick, light sounds like rain or small feet

has the same meaning but is a more playful or emphatic form
to spit
vsto pitter-patter
  • UK
1 2.6

To rain in small light drops

emphasizes the repeated light sounds rather than mere light rainfall
to spat
vsto pitter-patter
1 6.2

To hit a surface and make quick, sharp sounds like rain

makes lighter, softer rapid sounds rather than sharp impacts

Antonyms

silence
660 2.0

A period with no sound or speech

stillness
38 3.5

A time of complete quiet and no movement that feels calm

How Fast

to drum
18 1.3
patter
9 4.0
to pitter-patter
5.8
pat
∞ 1.0
tap
66 1.0

Surface Forms

pitter-patter infinitive
pitter-pattered past
pitter-pattered past participle
pitter-pattering present participle
pitter-patters third person singular

Morphology

pitter-patter = pitter + patter (semi-transparent) = pitter + patter

The verbal sense is a direct verbalization of the sound-imitative compound; it is predictable but rests on a fixed, reduplicative form rather than standard affixation.

Etymology

Pitter-patter is an echo of the small 'pat' sound, made twice in the parts pitter and patter, like raindrops on a roof. So to pitter-patter is to make a series of light, quick, repeated sounds.