chitterlings
[ˈtʃɪt.lɪnz]/ˈt͡ʃɪt.ɚ.lɪŋz/
chitterlings noun: small intestine, cleaned and defatted, usually of a pig. Sometimes prepared with hog maws. Also the plural of chitterling.
Noun
chitterlings pl (plural only)
- Small intestine, cleaned and defatted, usually of a pig. Sometimes prepared with hog maws.
- How fare I? troth for ſixpence a meale, wench, as well as heart can wiſh, with Calves chaldrons and chitterlings […]1604, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, “The Honest Whore, […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume II, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 40
Also used as
chitterlings is also the plural of chitterling.
Synonyms of chitterlings
Origin of chitterlings
From Middle English cheterlingis, chitterling, chitterlynge, chytyrlynge, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kūtiz, *kut-, from Proto-Indo-European *gud-, *gewd- (“intestine, gut”), from *gʷu-, *gū- (“to bend, curve, bow, camber, vault, distend”). Compare Middle Low German kǖtel (“entrails, tripe”), German Kutteln (“tripe”) and Scots kyte (“belly, stomach”). Compare also Icelandic kviður (“stomach”).
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Questions about chitterlings
- What does chitterlings mean?
- Chitterlings means small intestine, cleaned and defatted, usually of a pig. Sometimes prepared with hog maws.
- What part of speech is chitterlings?
- Chitterlings is a noun.
- How do you pronounce chitterlings?
- Chitterlings is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪt.ɚ.lɪŋz/ (US).
Words near chitterlings in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chitterlings (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-chitlins.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chitterlings.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chitterlings. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.