bitch

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjā, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (“female dog”) (compare Norwegian bikkje (“dog, bitch”), Old Danish bikke (“bitch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną (“to thrust, attack”) (compare Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”)). Related to bicker. === Pronunciation === enPR: bĭch, IPA(key): /bɪt͡ʃ/ (slang, African-American Vernacular) IPA(key): /bɪʃ/ Rhymes: -ɪtʃ === Noun === bitch (countable and uncountable, plural bitches) (dated or specialised, dog-breeding) A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother. (archaic, offensive) A promiscuous woman, slut, whore. (slang, vulgar, offensive, often sexist) A despicable or disagreeable, aggressive person, usually a woman. [from 15th c.] Hypernyms: arsehole, asshole (sometimes coordinate by masculine/feminine distinction); see also Thesaurus:jerk Coordinate term: bitcher Near-synonyms: cunt (vulgar, offensive); see also Thesaurus:jerk (vulgar, offensive, slang) A woman. (vulgar, offensive) A man considered weak, effeminate, timid or pathetic in some way (LGBTQ slang, derogatory) An obviously gay man. (vulgar, offensive) A submissive person who does what others want; (prison slang) a man forced or coerced into a homoerotic relationship. [from the 20th c] 1999 September 23, Chris Sheridan, “This House Is Freakin’ Sweet”, “Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater”, Family Guy, season 2, episode 1, Fox Broadcasting Company Now that you're stinking rich, we'd gladly be your bitch. (slang, vulgar, idiomatic, derogatory, misogynistic) A female sexual partner, typically in casual sexual relations (LGBTQ slang, idiomatic, vulgar, chiefly humorous) a sexual partner (obsolete, informal, of a man) A playful variation on dog (sense "man"). [from the 16th c] (humorous, vulgar, colloquial, used with a possessive pronoun) Friend. [from the 20th ca] (vulgar, colloquial) A complaint, especially when the complaint is unjustified. (colloquial, vulgar) A difficult or confounding problem. (colloquial, vulgar, card games) A queen playing card, particularly the queen of spades in the card game of hearts. Coordinate term: butcher (vulgar, figurative) Something unforgiving and unpleasant. (vulgar, informal, slang) Place; situation (UK, obsolete, university slang) Tea (the drink). (chess, slang, vulgar, offensive) A queen. ==== Usage notes ==== While bitch's original canine sense permits it to be used in most media, it remains offensive enough that, in the US, it is often minced (as b, b-word, or female dog) in formal contexts. ==== Alternative forms ==== (offensive senses): betch biatch/biotch; beatch/beotch bih binch bish biyatch/biyotch; beeyatch/beeyotch bizatch/biz-atch/biznatch Euphemisms: b-word rhymes-with-rich ==== Synonyms ==== (female dog, etc): doggess (rare), female (when the species is specified or implied), she-dog (malicious, etc, woman): See Thesaurus:shrew or Thesaurus:jerk (malicious, etc, man): See Thesaurus:bastard or Thesaurus:jerk (jocular slang, one's friend): See Thesaurus:friend (person in a relationship who is made to adopt a submissive role): doormat, slave (man forced into a homoerotic relationship in prison): punk, gunsel (a complaint): gripe, grumble, kvetch, moan, whinge (difficult or confounding problem): toughie, stinker, pain in the ass ==== Hyponyms ==== Female canine brach, a female hound she-wolf vixen, a female fox ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== → Chinese: b7 → Dutch: bitch →? German: Betze, Bätze, Petze → French: bitch ==== Translations ==== ==== References ==== Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN === Verb === bitch (third-person singular simple present bitches, present participle bitching, simple past and past participle bitched) (vulgar, intransitive) To behave or act as a bitch; especially, to complain excessively. Synonym: bitch and moan Coordinate terms: whine, grumble; see also Thesaurus:complain (vulgar, intransitive) To complain or criticize spitefully, often for the sake of complaining rather than in order to have the problem corrected. Synonyms: bitch and moan, (transitive) snipe; bitch out, badmouth, slag off (especially UK) Coordinate terms: whine, grumble, (transitive) rag; see also Thesaurus:complain (vulgar, transitive) To spoil, to ruin. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === == Dutch == === Etymology === Borrowed from English bitch, from Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /bɪtʃ/ Hyphenation: bitch === Noun === bitch f (plural bitches, diminutive bitchje n) (derogatory) bitch (somewhat general term of abuse for a woman; disagreeable, assertive, aggressive or malicious woman) Synonyms: teef, trut, kreng (derogatory) bitch (person in a submissive or low-placed position) ==== Related terms ==== bitchen == French == === Etymology === Borrowed from English bitch, from Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /bitʃ/ === Noun === bitch f (plural bitchs) bitch (disagreeable, despicable woman)