Word Confusion: Tic versus Tick

Plural for the noun: tics
Gerund: ticcing

Third person present verb: tics
Past tense or past participle: ticced
Present participle: ticcing

Plural for the noun: ticks
Gerund: ticking

Third person present verb: ticks
Past tense or past participle: ticked
Present participle: ticking

• tic douloureux

An idiosyncratic and habitual feature of a person’s behavior

Suffix:
[-tic] Equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring originally in adjectives of Greek origin, and used especially in the formation of adjectives from nouns ending in -sis ²

Verb, intransitive:
To have a tic ¹

• Produce tics

• [British; informal] A moment (used especially to reassure someone that one will return or be ready very soon)

[Mainly British] A mark (✓) used to indicate that an item in a list or text is correct or has been chosen, checked, or dealt with

• Check mark

[Informal] A unit on a scale

• A degree

[Stock Market] The smallest recognized amount by which a price of a security or future may fluctuate

[Manège] A jumping fault consisting of a light touch of a fence with one or more feet

A small contrasting spot of color on the coat of a mammal or the feathers of a bird

A parasitic arachnid that attaches itself to the skin of a terrestrial vertebrate from which it sucks blood, leaving the host when sated ²

• [Informal] A parasitic louse fly
• [Insects] Any of certain other arachnids of the order Acarina
• [Insects] Any of certain insects of the dipterous family Hippoboscidae that are ectoparasitic on horses, cattle, sheep, etc, especially the sheep ked

[Textiles] A fabric case stuffed with feathers or other material to form a mattress or pillow ³

• A light mattress without inner springs
• Short for ticking

[Commerce; informal; British] Account or credit, especially in the phrase on tick ⁴

Verb, intransitive:
[Of a clock or other mechanical device] Make regular short sharp sounds, typically one for every second of time that passes

Verb, transitive:
[Mainly British] Mark (an item) with a tick or select (a box) on a form, questionnaire, etc., to indicate that something has been chosen, checked, approved, or dealt with

To count or record with the sound of ticks

[Slang; tick off] To make angry

“As is the case in its trigeminal counterpart, tic douloureux, hemifacial spasm has a diverse array of potential etiologies” (Palacios, 55&8211;56).

I began with the kind of generalization that was one of my primary tics as a writer.

“One tic he has is to apologize even when something is not his fault” (Brewer).

There are factors that affect the frequency of ticcing.

Generally a sign of anxiety or insecurity, a tic begins as a deliberate movement that gradually becomes unconscious.

She developed a tic in her left eye.

Suffix:
You are so neurotic.

“Each of the casings houses a blood-pressure console with LED systaltic and diastolic readouts and blood-pressure gauge, a bench, a standing scale with video readout (not included in the small model) and a 3-foot tall communications board” (Vita).

We have taken an extremely analytic approach to targeting customers.

My son is very athletic.

Verb, intransitive:
Mom, Jamie’s ticcing again.

“Kids with provisional tic disorder often stop ticcing on their own and don’t need treatment” (Jacobson).

Don’t look now, but he hasn’t ticced all day.

I’ll be with you in a tick.

You can tick that one off.

Buy when interest rates move up a tick.

Tick size refers to the minimum price movement of a trading instrument in a market.

Stroller got round the course without even a tick.

My Sascha has a tick on her face.

Be careful out in the fields . . . the ticks are fierce this summer.

“Ticks are obligatory blood-feeding arthropods that belong to the subclass Acari, order Ixodida, and three families: Ixodidae (hard ticks), Argasidae (soft ticks), and Nuttallielidae” (Kotál).

“The study of a mummified young dog dated to the Roman period suggests a significant infestation by two blood sucking ectoparasites, respectively the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille, 1806 (Acari: Ixodidae), the louse fly Hippobosca longipennis Fabricius, 1805 (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) as well as puparia of sarcosaprophagous flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae), a potential source of myiasis” (Huchet, 165-175).

Mam made a tick filled with feathers.

I don’t think much of this tick; all the feathers are coming through.

Verb, intransitive:
I could hear the clock ticking.

We got more nervous as the clock ticked.

Helen could hear the machines ticking away.

He was curious about what makes people tick.

Verb, transitive:
Just tick the appropriate box below.

The clock was ticking the hours.

The taxi meter was ticking the fare.

She ticked off each name on the list.

She really knows how to tick me off!

1. Middle English, as a verb in the sense pat, touch, is probably of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch tik (noun), tikken (verb) pat, touch. The noun was recorded in late Middle English as a light tap; current senses date from the late 17th century.
2. Old English ticia, is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch teek and the German Zecke.
3. Late Middle English probably the Middle Low German, the Middle Dutch tēke, or the Middle Dutch tīke, via the West Germanic from the Latin theca meaning case, from the Greek thēkē.
4. Mid-17th century, apparently short for ticket in the phrase on the ticket, referring to an IOU or promise to pay.