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Jilt traces back to the English dialect noun jillet ("a flirtatious girl"), itself from Jill or Gill (used both as a proper name and as a noun meaning "girl") plus the diminutive suffix -et. Jilt itself came into use in the second half of the 17th century as a noun meaning "an unchaste woman" (a sense that is now obsolete) or "a woman who capriciously casts a lover aside," and also as a verb used for the actions of such a woman. These days, the person doing the jilting can be either male or female, and though jilt usually implies the sudden ending of a romantic relationship, it can also be used beyond the context of a romantic relationship with the broader meaning "to sever close relations with."
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Examples of jilt in a Sentence
Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 13 Sep. 2024
Louise was a hopeless romantic who helped Carrie piece her life back together after Big jilted her at the altar.
—Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 29 July 2024
Shayndi Raice, WSJ, 14 Nov. 2018
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Dictionary Entries Near jilt
Cite this Entry
“Jilt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jilt. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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jilt
1 of 2 verbjilt
2 of 2 noun
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