Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

prissy

/ˈpɹɪsi/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.34 in modern English

Syllables: pris-sy
IPA: /ˈpɹɪsi/

11

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Prim and fussy; too precise; overparticular.

Colloquial

adj

Lacking masculine vigor; sissified; effeminate.

Colloquial; Derogatory

adj

Well-mannered; well-behaved.

Colloquial

noun

A person who is prissy.

Colloquial

name

A diminutive of the female given name Priscilla.

Example Sentences

"She was a small, neat, rather prissy-looking girl with primly smooth brown hair and rimless glasses […]"
"As Nathanial Mayweather, heir to the Mayweather Hotel fortune, Elliott doesn’t disdain the hoi polloi so much as he considers everyone, even the faculty and headmaster at the prissiest private school in existence, to be part of it."
"European languages like English are just prissier about getting that pronoun in there."
"I refused to wear this properly as it looked a bit prissy, so I butchly slung it over one shoulder."
"Mom was always pushing her only daughter to become some kind of prissy feminine beauty."
"A pink can held shaving gel with a prissy, feminine smell."

Etymology

1895, either an alteration of precise, blend of prim + sissy, or a blend of prim + fussy; first attested in a work of American writer Joel Chandler Harris.

Usage

Inflected Forms

prissier (comparative) prissiest (superlative) prissies (plural)

Derived Forms

priss prissily prissiness prisspot unprissy

Synonyms

dainty nice overnice squeamish priggish prim prudish puritanical square-toed straitlaced strait-laced straightlaced

Rhymes With

missy sissy chrissy chrissie issy lissy missie cissie crisci lyssy missey hisey

Questions

How do you pronounce prissy?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɹɪsi/.
What does prissy mean?: Prim and fussy; too precise; overparticular.
Where does prissy come from?: 1895, either an alteration of precise, blend of prim + sissy, or a blend of prim + fussy; first attested in a work of American writer Joel Chandler Harris.

How to pronounce prissy

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “prissy”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpɹɪsi/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “prissy”.
Repeat and practice — Say “prissy” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.