pussy English · revision 6550

+ English has two main words spelled pussy: the pet name for a cat, from [[puss]], and a vulgar slang word for the female genitals, of disputed origin.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈpʊsi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|cat}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1583}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The cat is a diminutive of [[puss]] with the suffix [[-y]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a term of endearment for a girl or woman, also used of effeminate men: 1583, in Philip Stubbes's ''Anatomie of Abuses'';^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) a cat, by the 1690s in Etymonline, about 1565 in MWU.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A hare is pussy from 1715,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and childish speech applied it to anything soft and furry, such as a catkin, from 1858.^(OED 1989) In RAF slang of the Second World War ''to play pussy'' was to hide in cloud.^(Etymonline) ''Pussy-willow'' and ''pussyfoot'' follow the cat sense.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1583 – a term of endearment.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1565 – a cat (MWU).^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1715 – a hare.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1858 – something soft and furry.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(informal)'' A [[cat]]; a pussycat.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A soft furry [[catkin]], as of the pussy willow.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pussycat]]

+ * [[pussyfoot]]

+ * [[pussy willow]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|female genitals (vulgar)}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|attested=1699}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The vulgar sense is perhaps from earlier puss, vulva, of Low German or Scandinavian origin: compare [[non|púss|t=pocket, pouch]] and Low German puse, vulva;^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) or else from the cat word, from the idea of something soft and furry, as French chatte has both meanings.^(Etymonline)^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ 1699, in D'Urfey's ''Pills to Purge Melancholy'', in Green's Dictionary of Slang;^(GDoS) Etymonline has it by 1879 and notes that earlier uses are hard to separate from the cat word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline argues that the absence of the vaginal sense from Grose and other early slang dictionaries, and the use of pussy as an innocent endearment in books such as ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), suggest that it was not widely known before the late 19th century.^(Etymonline) By extension it means women as sexual objects, or sex.^(Dalzell 2013)^(GDoS) ''Pussy-whipped'', henpecked, is from 1956.^(Etymonline) As an adjective, weak or unmanly, it is American slang,^(Dalzell 2013) and a weak or timid man is a pussy.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1699 – in D'Urfey.^(GDoS)

+ * 1879 – clearly attested.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1956 – pussy-whipped.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(vulgar slang)'' The female [[genitals]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(vulgar slang, offensive)'' A weak or cowardly man.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[puss]]

+ * [[pus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A third, rare word pussy, pronounced /ˈpʌsi/, means full of [[pus]] (1888 in MWU).^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) American slang also had pussy, fat or corpulent (1844).^(GDoS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}