Pusillanimous
/ˌpjuːsɪˈlanɪməs/
adjective
- Showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.
Earlier this week I was told that this is the origin of the word ‘pussy’ being used to insult people for being weak or scared but after a quick google I discovered this was (unfortunately) untrue:
“It has been informally suggested in folk etymology that it is a shortened form of the word “pusillanimous“, which comes from Latin words meaning “tiny spirit” and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “showing a lack of courage or determination” or cowardly. Though this meaning would seem to be consistent with the intention of the word “pussy” when used as an insult toward a man, it is a false cognate unrelated to the Germanic derivations of puss and pussy.”
(from Wikipedia)
I see this comment is 9 years too late ! wondering if anyone will respond.
My cousin and I – descended from a Lancashire, Catholic family – remember hearing the word ‘pyewsy’ (roughy phonetic spelling) from parents in our childhood, with a meaning of poor, feeble, useless. Parents born at the very end C19th/early C20th – lower-middle class families, many were convent/Jesuit educated.
A search of Lancashire dialect words produced no clues. Pronunciation was definitely not the cat diminutive beginning with P – a word I don’t recall hearing used to mean soft, weak, effeminate – by customarily polite parents/aunts & uncles.
Am wondering if this was a jocular abbreviation of pusillanimous, perhaps familiar from church Latin ?