HUSSY
What does "HUSSY" mean?
An old-fashioned, often insulting term for a woman regarded as immoral or impudent.
Meanings
- A bold, disreputable, or sexually improper woman (now dated and derogatory). In the Victorian novel she is dismissed by neighbours as a brazen hussy. archaic
- A cheeky or mischievous girl or woman, said teasingly. "You little hussy," her aunt laughed, swatting at her with a tea towel. informal
Did you know?
- 'Hussy' is just 'housewife' worn down by centuries of speech - the same Middle English word 'huswif' split in two, one branch staying respectable and the other sliding into an insult, a classic example of how a word's meaning can curdle.
Word origin
A worn-down form of 'housewife': Middle English 'huswif' was pronounced 'hussif' and then narrowed and soured over the centuries into an insult, a textbook case of a respectable word decaying in meaning.
Remember it
HUSSY is HOUSEWIFE with the house knocked out and the meaning soured - same word, sunk reputation.
A little poem
She kept the house, they clipped the name in two -
and what was 'wife' came back as something cruel.
couplet
Wordplay
- Call her a hussy and you're really just calling her a housewife with the syllables filed off - history did the slander, not you.
What it teaches
Words can sink in status while their owners stay the same - language remembers our prejudices long after we forget them.
Quick facts
What does HUSSY mean?
An old-fashioned, often insulting term for a woman regarded as immoral or impudent.
Is HUSSY a valid word?
Yes — HUSSY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is HUSSY?
HUSSY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does HUSSY come from?
A worn-down form of 'housewife': Middle English 'huswif' was pronounced 'hussif' and then narrowed and soured over the centuries into an insult, a textbook case of a respectable word decaying in meaning.
What can HUSSY teach us?
Words can sink in status while their owners stay the same - language remembers our prejudices long after we forget them.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.