# Etymology of Synonyms of Breasts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852 "2002-07-26T00:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/21 "2016-09-26T14:36:42Z")
From the Oxford Onlne Dictionary: > [@](#): > > 1950s (originally US): abbreviation of booby, from dialect bubby, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to German dialect Bübbi teat. We can now add _man boobs_ (obvious), and _side boob_ (the side part of a woman’s breast, as exposed by a revealing item of clothing.) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/22 "2016-09-26T14:44:57Z")
> [@Pythagoras](#): > > The term “ **Gams** ” fascinates me. Its old enough that I can start commenting on girls “gams” to their faces and they wont know what Im talking about. You now know that “gams” are legs - specifically thighs, and presumably from gammon. There is also _gamahuche_, derived from the French, meaning _To perform oral sex, especially cunnilingus._ Used in Victorian pornography where French words were often used, maybe to confound the censor. Pure speculation on my part but I wonder if there is a connection. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/23 "2016-09-26T14:48:43Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > From the Oxford Onlne Dictionary: > > We can now add _man boobs_ (obvious), and _side boob_ (the side part of a woman’s breast, as exposed by a revealing item of clothing.) Don’t forget underboob. And Urban Dictionary has overboob. Not to mention a long list of other coinages including boob as a base. (No links since even a picture of a clothed boob may be NSFW.) Wait. How is this relevant to etymology? That’s just language at work. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/24 "2016-09-26T18:06:35Z")
I always assumed that “hooters” came from the resemblance to the face of an owl. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/25 "2016-09-26T18:30:29Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You now know that “gams” are legs - specifically thighs, and presumably from gammon. I had understood the word to be pretty much a direct cognate with the French “jambe” from which “gammon” and “ham” both also derive. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/26 "2016-09-26T18:39:02Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I had understood the word to be pretty much a direct cognate with the French “jambe” from which “gammon” and “ham” both also derive. [Etymology Online](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=gams) agrees with you. > [@](#): > > gams (n.) > “legs,” 1781, low slang, probably the same word as gamb “leg of an animal on a coat of arms” (1727) and ultimately from Middle English gamb “leg,” which is from French (see gammon). Now, in American English slang, especially with reference to well-formed legs of pretty women, but this was not the original sense. and > [@](#): > > gammon (n.) > “ham or haunch of a swine,” especially when smoked and cured, early 15c., gambon, from Old North French gambon “ham” (Old French jambon, 13c.), from gambe (Old French jambe) “leg,” from Late Latin gamba “leg of an animal” (see gambol (n.)). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/27 "2016-09-26T18:52:42Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I always assumed that “hooters” came from the resemblance to the face of an owl. This is the only [site](https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/cooters-and-hooters/)I found with a stab at etymology. The picture posted there is necessary: it’s of round tweeters. > [@](#): > > Neither the OED nor Merriam-Webster lists the vagina sense of cooter, but the latter does list the breast sense of hooter, which seems to be roughly the same age but has a much more transparent etymology: car horns, being things that hoot, are hooters, and car horns look vaguely like breasts: Car horns? Well, maybe. The sense of men hooting at a woman, the way owls hoot, does seem more likely a connection than the face of an owl. And synecdoche matters. > [@](#): > > According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, people in the 1980s also used hooter to refer to a woman with large breasts, much as they used cooter and coozie to talk about both a woman and a part of her body. These are examples of synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part is used to refer to a whole. This particular brand of synecdoche, which many consider sexist, happens with tedious regularity—for instance, when people talk about “chasing pussy” or “getting some sweet ass.” (Synecdoche for general insults like dick, asshole, and cunt is related but not quite the same.) So if you reduce a woman to no more than a cooter and some hooters, don’t be surprised if she snaps back and makes some noise. She’s got etymology on her side. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/28 "2016-09-26T19:01:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > This is the only [site](https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/cooters-and-hooters/)I found with a stab at etymology. The picture posted there is necessary: it’s of round tweeters. > > Car horns? Well, maybe. > > The sense of men hooting at a woman, the way owls hoot, does seem more likely a connection than the face of an owl. And synecdoche matters. [owl](http://alumni.kennesaw.edu/images/owls/owlface.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/29 "2016-09-26T19:08:45Z")
**Fotheringay-Phipps** , do you have any evidence for your owl theory, or did you just invent it? It seems quite unlikely to me – for one thing, pretty much every vertebrate on the planet has two eyes in its head, and those of most predators face forward. Why would owls be singled out? –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/30 "2016-09-26T19:13:56Z")
I invented/assumed it. The point about owls is that besides for their eyes facing forward on a fairly flat face (which is actually pretty unusual) they also have a larger rounded demarcation which covers most of their face, and then the eyes in middle of that and the pupils in middle of that, which correspond to breasts, areolas, nipples. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/31 "2016-09-26T19:21:13Z")
[99 words for boobs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXivEpsCveA) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/32 "2016-09-26T19:36:03Z")
Is there also a bird called a boobie? Where did that name come from? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/33 "2016-09-26T19:39:37Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Is there also a bird called a boobie? Where did that name come from? Spanish: > [@](#): > > booby (n.) > 1590s, from Spanish bobo “stupid person, slow bird” (used of various ungainly seabirds), probably from Latin balbus “stammering,” from an imitative root (see barbarian). [Cite](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=booby). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/34 "2016-09-26T22:07:23Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Knockers is a reference to a motion. I had assumed so, too, until I saw _just the right_ door knocker with the proper size bell at the bottom. Then a light bulb went off. Now, it is still not a perfect image as the “nipple” is at the very bottom of the knocker, but the general shape is pretty darn close, for some door knockers. Which isn’t to say that it _isn’t_ named after a motion, but I think that door knockers had something to do with it as well. Semprini ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/35 "2016-09-26T22:41:57Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The point about owls is that besides for their eyes facing forward on a fairly flat face (which is actually pretty unusual) they also have a larger rounded demarcation which covers most of their face, and then the eyes in middle of that and the pupils in middle of that, which correspond to breasts, areolas, nipples. Look at the [howlers](http://cdn2.arkive.org/media/A2/A26C363F-3684-4B7B-9099-0494F81A3758/Presentation.Large/Colombian-red-howler-monkey-mouth-open.jpg) on that girl! –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/36 "2016-09-26T22:50:28Z")
I don’t think it’s as close of a match. But even if it was, it wouldn’t make a difference. The average English-speaking person rarely encounters those particular monkeys, while owls are fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/37 "2016-09-27T00:20:13Z")
Now we just need to figure out why one would compare breasts to two young fawns. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/38 "2016-09-27T02:36:53Z")
They feed among the lilies? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/39 "2016-09-27T11:33:42Z")
> [@partly\_warmer](#): > > The slang terms for popular body regions are huge in number, so there may be some hesitancy in running them all to ground. “The Best of Maledicta” includes…“Jersey City” In the UK we have “Bristols” (because there is a football team called Bristol City). So the US does have rhyming slang, as well as us - cf. also raspberry (+tart=…work it out for yourself). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/40 "2016-09-27T12:58:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Now we just need to figure out why one would compare breasts to two young fawns. I dunno, why do they get called puppies? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852.md?page=3)