bitch (n.)
古英语 bicce “母狗”, 可能来自古北欧语 bikkjuna “狗的雌性” (也有狐狸, 狼, 偶尔还有其他野兽), 来源不明. 格林将古北欧语从Lapp pittja, 但OED指出, “反过来也同样可能”. 作为适用于女性的蔑称, 可追溯到15世纪; 对男人的蔑称, 16世纪, 戏称为“狗”. 从20世纪30年代开始在男性同性恋者中使用. 在现代(20世纪90年代, 原为非裔美国人的白话) 的俚语中, 它的使用与指代男人是性蔑视, 来自“女人” 的侮辱.
BITCH. A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore. [“Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” 1811]
Bitch goddess 1906年由威廉-詹姆斯创造, 原为 success.
Entries linking to bitch
1925, U.S. slang, "sexually provocative;" later (1930s) "spiteful, catty, bad-tempered" (usually of females); from bitch + -y (2). Earlier in reference to male dogs thought to look less rough or coarse than usual.
Mr. Ramsay says we would now call the old dogs "bitchy" in face. That is because the Englishmen have gone in for the wrong sort of forefaces in their dogs, beginning with the days when Meersbrook Bristles and his type swept the judges off their feet and whiskers and an exaggerated face were called for in other varieties of terriers besides the wire haired fox. [James Watson, "The Dog Book," New York, 1906]
Related: Bitchily; bitchiness.
1530s, "result, outcome," from Latin successus "an advance, a coming up; a good result, happy outcome," noun use of past participle of succedere "come after, follow after; go near to; come under; take the place of," also "go from under, mount up, ascend," hence "get on well, prosper, be victorious," from sub "next to, after" (see sub-) + cedere "go, move" (from PIE root *ked- "to go, yield"). Meaning "accomplishment of desired end" (good success) first recorded 1580s. Meaning "a thing or person which succeeds," especially in public, is from 1882.
The moral flabbiness born of the bitch-goddess SUCCESS. That — with the squalid interpretation put on the word success — is our national disease. [William James to H.G. Wells, Sept. 11, 1906]
Success story is attested from 1902. Among the French phrases reported by OED as in use in English late 19c. were succès d'estime "cordial reception given to a literary work out of respect rather than admiration" and succès de scandale "success (especially of a work of art) dependent upon its scandalous character."
updated on July 27, 2022
