hussy
/ˈhʌzi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.17 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A cheeky or disrespectful girl; a woman showing inappropriate or improper behavior.
Derogatory; Informal
Example Sentences
- "She called him ‘pig’ in bastard Arabic, and he called her ‘hussy’ in good English, but these amenities were forgotten in the face of the catastrophe that had overwhelmed her at the hands of her Queen."
- "Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes."
- "But the girl didn’t like to, till her stepmother said: “Lift it up this instant, you hussy! Girls must keep their promises!”"
- "WIRTHIN. Well, I should think so! They just dote on that hussy—can't seem to get enough of her. Gretchen tells me so herself. And the care she takes of them!"
Etymology
From earlier hussive, hussif, the regular evolution of Middle English houswyf (“housewife”), equivalent to house + wife. Modern housewife is a restoration of the compound (and thus is a doublet), after its component parts had become unrecognisable through regular phonetic change, as well as gradual negative senses and historical factors. The traditional pronunciation of the word is /ˈhʌzi/; the pronunciation with /s/ is a spelling pronunciation.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: houswyf