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British people sometimes use "love to bits" and "thrilled/chuffed to bits" to indicate extremes.

Despite searching high and low, I could not find the origin of the phrase "to bits", other than speculation on forums.

Does anyone have a source for its origin or etymology?

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    It means the person experiencing the emotion is so full of it that they fear they may explode into small pieces (the idiom is blown to bits). This is not, however, a very realistic fear for most English speakers.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 20:02
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    It is also used negatively. After meeting someone who had received very bad news, I have heard people say 'I found him/her in pieces'. There is also the expression of 'pulling oneself together'. Metaphors about human fragmentation may be worthy of more extensive research.
    – WS2
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 20:38
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    I wouldn't be surprised to discover that "to bits" morphed from "to pieces", (as @Tim Lymington answered) and possibly gained popularity because of use by a character from a TV show or movie.
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 21:04
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    ... Mr Jinks used a negative variation: "I hates them meeces to pieces!"
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 22:06
  • Not just British people. I wonder where people get their information. To love someone to bits is not negative.
    – Lambie
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 3:10

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A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English gives thrilled to bits "since late 1940s, perhaps ob[solete] by 1970", though a search of Google Books gives references in the 1930s.

"Chuffed to bits" also depends on the prevalence of "chuffed", of course; I was able to find one example as early as 1979.

Nowhere have I found any authoritative reference to the source of the to bits phrasing, though John Lawler's suggestion sounds reasonable.

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    Being 'chuffed', or 'chuffed to bits' goes back far earlier than 1979. I well remember it being popular in the first half of the sixties.
    – WS2
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 20:33
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    Etymonline has "chuff" meaning "pleased" in 1860, coming from "swollen with fat". I'll be using "chuffed" even more now that I know that.
    – Rupe
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 21:47
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It may come from the older expression "(all) to pieces: to a great degree, completely, through and through. Now colloq." (OED)

Doesn't help directly with the etymology, but the first citation, from 1788, is "It beats Pinetti's conjuring all to pieces", suggesting an extension from literally beating into pieces, to "he beat me to pieces at chess", to "I love you to pieces (Snookums)".

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Ngram shows that the expression love to bits is quite recent:

Love to bits:

love somebody/something to bits (informal) to like or to love someone or something a lot.

  • Clive's the nicest person I know. I love him to bits. 'Do you like your new bike, then?' 'Oh, I love it to bits!'

Source: Cambridge Idioms Dictionary.

but the expression 'to pieces' ( also love to pieces) can be found in much older citations.

here are the Oxford English Dictionary's relevant citations (in the sense "to a great degree" and not necessarily literally "to ruin" etc.):

  • 1788 ‘P. PINDAR’ Prooemium in Wks. 366 'Tis most extraordinary then, all this is—It beats Pinetti's conjuring all to pieces. //

  • 1840 C. F. HOFFMAN Greyslaer I. I. x. 114, I know the ground here all to pieces. //

  • 1892 W. G. LYTTLE Ballycuddy 79 She wud a pleesed ye a' tae pieces, an' wud a been charmed tae a haen a minister fur a son-in-law. // 1925 Dial. Notes 5 325, I knows un all to pieces. //

  • 1958 L. URIS Exodus III. iii. 351 Ari! I love you to pieces! // 1989 B. A. MASON Love Life 123, I just love him to pieces.

Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org

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