sass

Etymology

It is from English a variant of sauce,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} with the broad vowel of sauce shortened to the a of sass in American speech before the end of the 18th century.^[7] The verb is likewise a regional and nonstandard variant of the verb sauce.^[2][3] The American Heritage Dictionary, Collins and Merriam-Webster Unabridged take the sense "impudence" as a back-formation from sassy,^[8][9][10] itself an alteration of saucy;^[7] Etymonline combines the two views, calling it a back-formation from sassy and ultimately a colloquial pronunciation of sauce.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vegetables, especially garden vegetables grown for food: 1775, in a journal of J. Stevens from Massachusetts.^[2][11] Etymonline also dates sass as a colloquial variant of sauce to 1775.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were those of sauce in American country speech: garden vegetables, with long sass for carrots, parsnips and the like and short sass for potatoes, onions or turnips.^[7][11] From 1830 it also meant stewed or preserved fruit such as applesauce, chiefly in the northern United States.^[2][7] These uses survive but are now rare.^[7][2] The sense "impudence, back talk", matching the older "sauciness" of sauce, is recorded from 1835 by Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[6][10] while the first quotations in Green's Dictionary of Slang and the OED are from 1838 and 1841.^[12][2] It is now by far the commonest sense;^[7] DARE notes that many speakers think of it as a separate word.^[11] The verb, to speak impudently to someone, followed in 1836,^[2] and to sass back in 1862.^[2] Since 1957 the noun has also been used approvingly, for bold, self-assured or spirited behaviour.^[2]

Timeline

• 1775 – vegetables, especially garden vegetables.^[2][11]
• 1830 – stewed or preserved fruit.^[2]
• 1835 – impudence, back talk.^[6][10] The OED's first record is from 1841.^[2]
• 1836 – verb, to speak impudently to someone.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the verb to 1856.^[6][10]
• 1862 – to sass back, to answer back.^[2]
• 1957 – bold, spirited self-assurance, in a positive sense.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (informal, chiefly US) Rude or disrespectful talk; back talk or impudence: The coach won't take any sass from his players.^[10][9][2]
2. Bold, lively self-confidence; swagger.^[2]
3. (chiefly Midland US) Fresh garden vegetables; also called garden sass.^[10][2][3]
4. (US regional) Stewed or preserved fruit; sauce.^[10][2]

Verb

1. (informal, chiefly US) To talk back to someone, especially a parent or other person in authority, rudely or disrespectfully: The boy never dared to sass his grandparents.^[10][9][2]

Word family

• sassy

Related words

• sauce
• saucy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c d Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com