tot

Definition

A small child.

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots tot, a shortened form of totum (“small child; tot”), of uncertain origin, perhaps shortened from totter (“to move in an unsteady way”), Compare tottle, also Old Norse tottr (“name of a dwarf”), Swedish tutte (“small child”), Danish tommeltot (“little child”).

Example Sentences

• "He learned to run when he was just a tot."
• "When I was but a tiny tot, I knocked the neighbors cold / For I became to walk when I was scarcely one year old"
• "Death conditioning begins at eighteen months. Every tot spends two mornings a week in a Hospital for the Dying. All the best toys are kept there, and they get chocolate cream on death days."