nit

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈnit 

plural nits

1

: the egg of a louse or other parasitic insect

also : the insect itself when young

2

: a minor shortcoming

Most of the feedback is adulatory, some critical (his public loves to catch him in mistakes, or at least pick nits [=criticize minor shortcomings]) and some downright nasty.

—Rudolph Chelminski

My only nit to pick is the chaotic presentation of the home page and its not being an especially user-friendly guide to the content.

—David L. Coddon

nit

2 of 4

noun (2)

plural nits

chiefly British

: a silly or stupid person : nitwit

nit

3 of 4

noun (3)

plural nits

: a unit of luminance equal to one candela per square meter

The 14-inch touchscreen display comes with a 2.2K resolution that can reach 300 nits of brightness.

—Chuong Nguyen

NIT

4 of 4

abbreviation

National Invitational Tournament

Synonyms of nit

Noun (2)

• fool
• lunatic
• nut
• goose
• idiot
• moron
• maniac
• booby

Examples of nit in a Sentence

Noun (2)

stop being such a great nit and listen to what I have to say

some nit at the bar was claiming all politicians are crooked

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Raven says the image appears roughly equivalent to a 16-inch screen that’s held at arm’s length, with more than 1,500 nits of brightness. — New Atlas, 3 Nov. 2026

Plus, its Actua 360 display is 10% larger and 50% brighter at 3000 nits than the Pixel Watch 3, making the Pixel Watch 5 a worthy upgrade. — George Yang, PC Magazine, 3 Nov. 2026

The new MacBook Pro’s PROLED XDR touch display is a tandem OLED panel with up to 2,000 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. — Stevie Bonifield, The Verge, 30 Oct. 2026

That means dapper blacks and a much higher peak brightness—1,200 nits versus just 500 nits for the previous mini. — ArsTechnica, 26 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English nite, from Old English hnitu; akin to Old High German hniz nit, Greek konid-, konis

Noun (3)

borrowed from French, from the base of Latin nitēre "to shine" — more at neat entry 1

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1598, in the meaning defined above

Noun (3)

1953, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing nit

• nit-picking

Rhymes for nit

• bit
• brit
• britt
• chit
• fit
• flit
• grit
• hit
• it
• kitt
• knit
• lit

Kids Definition

nit

noun

ˈnit

1

: the egg of a louse or similar insect

also : the insect itself when young

2

: a minor shortcoming

Medical Definition

nit

noun

ˈnit 

: the egg of a louse or other parasitic insect

also : the insect itself when young