bitch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɪtʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bicche,^[2][3] inherited from Old English bicce (“female dog”),^[4][2][5] related, perhaps by borrowing, to Old Norse bikkja (“female dog”), which is of unknown origin.^[4][2][5] The Old Norse oath bikkju-sonr matches Middle English biche sone “son of a bitch”.^[2] Grimm derived the Norse word from Sami pittja, but the OED says the reverse is just as possible.^[4] A link with French biche “hind” is unknown.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The female of the dog: about 1000.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The female of the fox, wolf and other animals is from 1555.^[7] As a term of contempt for a woman it dates from about 1400,^[4][7][6] and of a man, more playfully, from about 1500.^[4][7] Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811) called it the most offensive name one could give an Englishwoman.^[4] In some Scottish and northern dialects it was used of a woman with no disrespect.^[8] The verb “to spoil, bungle” is from 1823,^[2][4] and “to complain, grumble” from 1930 or before.^[2][4] Chaucer's bicched bones, “unlucky dice”, shows the Middle English adjective bicched “cursed, bad”.^[4] Something very difficult or unpleasant is a later colloquial sense.^[9][10]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – a female dog.^[2][7]
• c. 1400 – a contemptuous term for a woman.^[4]
• c. 1500 – of a man.^[4]
• 1555 – the female of other animals.^[7]
• 1823 – verb, to bungle.^[2]
• 1930 – verb, to complain.^[2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A female dog, wolf, fox or otter.
2. (offensive) A spiteful or overbearing woman.
3. (informal) Something very difficult or unpleasant.
4. (informal) A complaint.

Verb

1. (informal) To complain; to grumble.
2. To spoil or bungle.

Word family

• superbitch
• bitchery
• bitchin'
• bitchy
• bitch goddess
• son of a bitch

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster