Mitt Is a Mitten With Its Ending Cut Off
A mitt is a glove without separate fingers. The shorter word came from the longer one.
A mitt is a glove that covers the fingers together rather than separately, and in slang a hand. It is a shortening of *mitten*, which looks like a diminutive but is not built from any English word *mit*. The source is Old French *mitaine*, probably from *mite*, a cat, from the fur once used — so the ending was never a suffix, and cutting it off created a new word by accident. Mittens keep hands warmer than gloves because the fingers share their heat.
- A fingerless glove. *An oven mitt.*
- A catcher's mitt. *A baseball mitt.*
- A hand (slang). *Get your mitts off.*
- Mitten — the full word. *A mitten.*
- Old French — *mitaine*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | mitt | A mitt. |
| Plural | mitts | Mitts. |
| Full form | mitten | A mitten. |
| Compound | oven mitt | An oven mitt. |
| Old French | mitaine | A mitten. |
- He wore an oven mitt.Kitchen.
- The catcher's mitt.Baseball.
- Keep your mitts off.Slang.
Why mittens are warmer
- Fingers share a single space and warm each other
- Less surface area is exposed to the cold air
- Gloves isolate each finger, losing heat faster
- Dexterity is the trade-off
- Layering a thin glove inside a mitten gives both
Shortened from *mitten*, from Old French *mitaine*, possibly from *mite*, a cat, from the fur used.
Is mitt short for mitten?
Yes. The ending of mitten was never an English suffix, so cutting it off produced a genuinely new word.
Are mittens warmer than gloves?
Yes. The fingers share one space and warm each other, and less surface is exposed to the cold.