# pussy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809 "2001-04-30T05:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/1 "2001-04-30T05:22:22Z")
Made you look. Actually, there is a question here. I need to know the etymology of the word “pussy,” as a synonym for “wimp.” Is it a secondary derivation from the vulgar term for the part of the female anatomy, or a direct derivation from the term for a skittish feline? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/2 "2001-04-30T06:21:43Z")
OK, you got me! I looked. I also looked in my _Shorter Oxford English Dictionary_, and three online dictionaries (incl. Webster), and found nothing. A typical entry was this: Dictionary Results 6 words found. ``` Main Entry: 1pussy Pronunciation: 'pu-sE Function: noun Etymology: [^1]puss Date: 1726 Inflected Form(s): plural puss.ies 1 : CAT 2 : a catkin of the pussy willow Main Entry: 2pus.sy Pronunciation: 'pu-sE Function: noun Etymology: perhaps of Low German or Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse puss pocket, pouch, Low German puse vulva, Old English pusa bag Date: circa 1879 Inflected Form(s): plural pussies 1 usually vulgar : VULVA 2 a usually vulgar : SEXUAL INTERCOURSE b usually vulgar : the female partner in sexual intercourse Main Entry: 3pus.sy Pronunciation: 'p&-sE Function: adjective Date: circa 1890 Inflected Form(s): pus.si.er; -est : full of or resembling pus Main Entry: 4pus.sy Pronunciation: 'p&-sE variant of<SUP>1]pursy Main Entry: pussy willow Pronunciation: 'pu-sE- Function: noun Date: 1869 : a willow (as the American Salix discolor) having large cylindrical silky aments Main Entry: wood pussy Function: noun Date: circa 1899 : SKUNK ``` I guess the usage in question is probably a back-formation from “pussy cat”, suggesting that a person is soft and not a threat. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/3 "2001-04-30T11:59:07Z")
I’d be willing to bet that your first guess is correct – this is a secondary derivation from slang for female pudenda. Why do I say this? Because people won’t call someone a “pussy” in a public forum – you won’t find it in newspapers or TV or at polite dinner conversation. This, to me, indicates that people _think_ that this is a vulgar term. But there’s np stigma at all to saying “he’s just a big pussy cat”, where the addition of “cat” shows that the person is being compared to a feline. Of course, the skittish behavior of cats probably adds to the meaning in the first case – we don’t live in a vacuum, and secondary meanings can certainly influence words derived from other places. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/4 "2001-04-30T12:12:36Z")
What Calmeacham said. Plus the fact that we also get called “faggot” and variants on that theme. The belief formula from which they’re working is that men ought to be different from women in personality and behavior; that, if you find some male who is more like a female in personality and behavior, he isn’t a real man, he might as well be a woman and he either wants to be fucked or deserves to be fucked by real men, which means he’s a fag, which again means he’s more like a woman than a man. Actually at its core what it’s saying is “you are rapable and that makes you contemptible”. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/5 "2001-04-30T13:36:09Z")
I don’t know when the first cite of “pussy” referring to a “weak man” occurred, but I’d be willing to bet that the term “pussycat” meaning a “a guy who seems gruff, but is really pretty cool” predates it. It’s not a big leap from “pussycat” to “pussy.” ---
**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/6 "2001-04-30T13:41:44Z")
Well as long as we’re here, can someone tell me how long is has been a vulgar term for female pudenda? Wondered about that ever since I read “Dr. No”. ---
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/7 "2001-04-30T13:44:27Z")
There is a Chinese goddess named Poo See who “caused all the ills of the world.” I guess the etymologies given above are the correct ones, but one could theorize that during WWII the army men picked up the name of this goddess and applied it as it has been applied! ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/8 "2001-04-30T14:33:17Z")
Am I the _only_ one who has an obscure line from a movie running through their head? Something like “You’re a wussy… part wimp and part pussy.” Can’t even remember the movie, but I’ve ALWAYS remembered the line (used it on my brother once…). Now it’s gonna bug me all day… ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/9 "2001-04-30T14:41:36Z")
The Breakfast Club? ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/10 "2001-04-30T14:45:26Z")
Frankly, I’m more concerned with using pussy as an adjective to describe “resembling pus” Someone sent me an email relaying a story and said “there was a sort of pussy slime all over my arm” You can’t IMAGINE what was going through my head. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/11 "2001-04-30T14:54:53Z")
Sure, websters: “perhaps of Low German or Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse p\*ss pocket, pouch, Low German pse vulva, Old English pusa bag Date:circa 1879” pussy=pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/12 "2001-04-30T15:02:21Z")
**Long D.** : > [@](#): > > Well as long as we’re here, can someone tell me how long is has been a vulgar term for female pudenda? Wondered about that ever since I read “Dr. No”. I wonder why Dr. No made you wonder that. It might have occurred to me while reading Goldfinger, since that book/movie had a character named Pussy Galore in it, but I didn’t know the word figured prominently in Dr. No as well. **jarbabyj** : When using the word that way, you pronounce it to rhyme with “bus.” When I need to use a modifier meaning “oozing pus,” I usually spell it “pus-y” or “pus-ey.” That’s probably wrong, but it helps make my meaning clear, so that makes it right. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/13 "2001-04-30T15:24:24Z")
I checked out the OED online, and it agrees with what our Ozzie friend posted from the Shorter OED. I’m starting to think that it was a back-formation of “pussyfoot,” to behave timidly. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/14 "2001-04-30T15:32:06Z")
I meant to add that I’ll take a look at DARE when I get to work tonight… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/15 "2001-04-30T15:54:49Z")
As for pussy (vulva), there’s nothing I love better. My most cherished and precious object of affection. So why on earth would anyone abuse it as a term of opprobrium? In other words, if it’s a putdown, it devalues and degrades the feminine. Why not love and praise and exalt the feminine, the pussy, the yoni? Margot Magowan has started a campaign to rehabilitate the word _pussy_ and turn it into a positive epithet. Her project’s web site is called [Team Pussy](http://pussy.judysgarlands.com). She also wrote an [article for Salon.com](http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/02/28/pussy/index.html) about turning around the use of _pussy_ to make it a compliment. “Take the wussy out of pussy.” Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/16 "2001-04-30T21:36:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*[It might have occurred to me while reading Goldfinger, since that book/movie had a character named Pussy Galore in it, but I didn’t know the word figured prominently in Dr. No as well. > > \*\* Ummm…OK. Make that “Goldfinger” then. Gee. I read a bunch of Bond novels years ago…blah blah blah ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pussy/63809/17 "2001-04-30T22:44:03Z")
I always thought it was a shortened version of **pusillanimous**. From [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com): Main Entry: pu·sil·lan·i·mous Pronunciation: -'la-n&-m&s Function: adjective Etymology: Late Latin pusillanimis, from Latin pusillus very small (diminutive of pusus boy) + animus spirit; perhaps akin to Latin puer child – more at PUERILE, ANIMATE Date: 1586 : **lacking courage and resolution : marked by contemptible timidity** synonym see COWARDLY - pu·sil·lan·i·mous·ly adverb