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batty

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Etymology and origin of the English word batty

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbæti/[1]
  • US: /ˈbæti/[1]

batty1 crazy

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1600 Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ultimate origin
Old English batt,-ig
Etymology tree of batty1
inherited borrowed derived
English bat
English batty
From the same root · batty1
English batman ← bat
English batter ← bat
English batting ← bat

Etymology

The word for crazy is formed from English bat + -y, from bat, the flying mammal.[2][3][4][5][6] The sense "crazy" is taken from the phrase “to have bats in the belfry”, not to be right in the head, recorded from 1899.[3][7][6][8] Green's Dictionary of Slang adds a second explanation, from the name of Fitzherbert Batty, a 19th-century barrister whose certification as insane in 1839 drew much attention, but notes that the dates tell against it.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or like a bat: 1600, in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, of sleep that creeps over the brows "with leaden legs and batty wings".[2][4][10]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the adjective was a literary word for bat-like;[2] Johnson (1755) defined it only as "belonging to a bat", quoting Shakespeare.[10] The slang sense "crazy, eccentric" is recorded from 1903, in American English,[2][3][9] and comes from the phrase about bats in the belfry.[3][7] By 1913 batty about someone meant infatuated or obsessed with them.[9] Collins now labels the stronger sense "mad" old-fashioned, while "odd, eccentric" remains in informal use.[8]

Timeline

  • 1600 – of or like a bat.[2][4]
  • 1903 – crazy, eccentric, foolish.[2][3][9]
  • 1913 – batty about, infatuated with.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (informal) Odd or eccentric; mildly crazy: Her neighbours thought the old man was a bit batty.[8][4][2]
  2. (informal) batty about: very keen on someone or something.[9]
  3. Of or like a bat: batty wings.[4][2]

Word family

  • battiness
  • battily

batty2 buttocks

Confidence
Established
First attested
1935 H. P. Jacobs's notes on Jamaican language
Ultimate origin
English bottom

Etymology

The word for the buttocks is a Caribbean pronunciation from English of botty,[2][11][5] a pet form of bottom.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person's buttocks: 1935, in H. P. Jacobs's manuscript notes on the Jamaican language.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to Caribbean and Black British English.[5][9] Green's Dictionary of Slang records it for the buttocks or anus in the West Indies from 1976 and in Britain from 1980.[9] The derogatory compounds batty boy and batty man denote homosexual men,[5][9] and since 1988 the word has also been used as an adjective meaning homosexual or effeminate.[9] In the 21st century young speakers in Britain also used it as a general insult.[9]

Timeline

  • 1935 – the buttocks.[2]
  • 1988 – adjective, homosexual, effeminate (derogatory).[9]
  • 2006 – an effeminate man.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Caribbean and Black British, informal) The buttocks; the backside.[5][2][9]

Usage notes

A further noun batty, the rice plant or paddy in the field, came through Portuguese from Kannada and Sanskrit and was used in English accounts of India from 1598 to 1819.[2] In slang and Kentish dialect batty also meant wages or perquisites, from the Anglo-Indian batta, an extra allowance paid to troops in the field.[9][12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
Cite this entry

“Batty.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/batty. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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