# Etymology: If I call someone a "pussy"...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 10, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347 "2012-09-10T22:56:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347/21 "2012-09-12T17:38:35Z")

</div>

> [@njtt](#):
>
> Except that the first vowel in _pusillanimous_ is pronounced quite differently from that in _pussy_.

What a catastrophe!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347/22 "2012-09-12T17:53:42Z")

</div>

> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> Whenever I’ve been called a pussy, I’ve been fortunate to have the presence of mind to retort, “You are what you eat, dick.”

Ha!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347/23 "2012-09-13T18:49:10Z")

</div>

Weak like a woman or scared like a cat. Wrong in both cases as you really don’t want piss either one of them off.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347/24 "2012-09-13T19:07:27Z")

</div>

What about when a woman refers to herself as a pussy? The other day I was talking to a woman about competing in an endurance event, and she said she doubted she’d ever do it because she’s a pussy. I doubt she meant that she wouldn’t do it because she’s a woman; rather that she was too weak-willed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347/25 "2012-09-14T05:54:51Z")

</div>

> [@njtt](#):
>
> Except that the first vowel in _pusillanimous_ is pronounced quite differently from that in _pussy_.
> 
> Also, although I haven’t looked it up, I would lay odds that _pusillanimous_ is not nearly such an old word as _pussy_ (which as noted, goes back to the 16th century).

[Pusillanimous](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pusillanimous?s=ts) isn’t ancient, but it is from the Latin and also from the 16th century. As I understand it, the pu- words in Latin that indicate smallness or various terms for children come from an Indo-European root that means something like ‘you put food in it’.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-if-i-call-someone-a-pussy/634347.md?page=1)