I can understand the derivation of most racial, religious and sex-related slurs—but “dyke?” I have asked several lesbians, and they are flummoxed by it, too.
Anyone know where this expression comes from, and what the hell it has to do with lesbians?
Something to do with sticking a finger in a moist hole?
. . . Oh, I shoulda seen THAT one coming from a mile off . . .
Indeed you should have. 
I’ve heard a lot of theories, each one a bit more farfetched than the other. There’s one that involves it being a derivation of some goddess Boudikea…
Anyway, from my slang dictionary: Origin uncertain and much debated; perhaps from a shortening of morphodyke, dialectal and substandard pronunciation of “hermaphrodite,” perhaps influenced by “dick” (penis).
In short, no clue whatsoever…
Always glad to oblige with the obvious, m’dear.
Putting this as delicately as I can, is, um, a new prescription on the bifocals appropriate?
In my slang dictionarry it says: “Possibly, from the dialect term for “trench” Cf. BULLDIKER”.
Pretty close to a wet hole. DYKE or DIKE is also a slang term for lattrine and female genitalia. Go figure!
no way, peace. You’re thinking about “squaw”!
Many theories are discussed here:
Eve It’s not that old. But here are a couple examples from the OED on it’s origin [not all of them cause of the copyright rule]:
1942 BERREY & VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang §405/3 Masculine woman,…dike, dyke.
1959 F. NORMAN Stand on Me iii. 37 Nearly everyone is kinkey on dykes for some reason.
‘Cause when I guy finds that a good-looking woman is not interested in guys, the first thing he says is "Dam’".
Yet these two languages have interesting last translations:
Español (Spanish):
represar con diques, dique, represa, lesbiana
Italiano (Italian):
arginare, argine, lesbica (volg.)
So why are these little plyer-like with cutting edge thingies that I use at work also called dykes?
I always thought it was spelled “dikes”. It’s a sloppy contraction of DIagonal CutterS (of course, if they were spelled "DIagonal KutterS, it would be more obvious).
~~Baloo
Thank you Baloo.
I have once again learned something. 
Lighter takes it back to 1931 in it’s modern meaning…“Benches in the more obscure parts are used continually by couples, pansies, and dykes.”
Cripes! Now we’ll need a thread on pansies
[semi hijack]
How about “fruit” for male homosexual? Where does this derive from?
[/semi hijack]
That’s Boudicca/Boadicea, who was not a goddess but rather a historical figure. She was the Queen of a British tribe called the Iceni.
I believe the supposed derivation is dyke from bulldyke from Boudicca. . .ridiculous, of course.
Karl the term “fruit” to refer to male homosexuals seems to have originated around 1900. At this time, according to Lighter, it referred also to “an immoral woman” an “immoral man” and “a disagreeable person”. Yet, at the same time, “fruit” was used on college campuses to denote “a good fellow”. It also implied an easy mark. “One who can be easily deceived”
Sorry, Eve, I can’t help answer your query. But I would like to commend you on your vocabulary. Even among professionals such as yourself, it’s rare to see the word “wherefore” used correctly.
In the content of this thread, isn’t “Dick Van Dyke”
an oxymoron?