chitterling

From Middle English chiterling, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle Low German kǖtel (“entrails, tripe”), German Kuttel (“tripe”), West Flemish kiet, kijte (“milt, fish roe”), Scots kyte (“belly, stomach”).

chitterling (plural chitterlings)

1. (obsolete) The frill to the breast of a shirt.
   • a. 1621, John Harland, Shuttleworth Family, The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster, at Smithils and Gawthorpe: From September 1582 to October 1621:

     And some wear lattice caps with three horns, three corners I should say, like the forked caps of popish priests, with their periwinkles, chitterlings, and the like apish toys of infinite variety

2. A single piece of chitterlings (intestine used as food).

• “chitterling”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.