|
The word pussy is a noun, an adjective, and in rare uses a verb in the English language. It has several meanings, including use as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. Because of its multiple senses including both innocent and vulgar connotations, it is often the subject of double entendre. The etymology of the word is not entirely clear. Several different senses of the word have different histories or origins. Common meanings of the noun include "cat", "coward or weakling", and "the human vulva or vagina", or as a synecdoche, "sexual intercourse with a woman".〔 Adjective meanings are related to the noun. As a homograph, ''pussy'' also has the meaning "containing pus";〔 with this meaning, the word is pronounced , while the other forms are all pronounced . Another adjective is the rare or obsolete Northern English dialect form ''pursy'' meaning "fat" or "short-winded".〔 Meanings of the verb relate to the common noun senses, including "to act like a cat", "to act like a coward", or "to have sex with a woman". == Etymology == The noun ''pussy'' meaning "cat" comes from the Modern English word ''puss'', a conventional name or term of address for a pet cat. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (OED) says that cognates are common to several Germanic languages, including Dutch ''poes'' and Middle Low German ''pūse'', which are also used to call a cat. The word ''puss'' is attested in English as early as 1533. Earlier etymology is uncertain, but similar words exist in other European languages, including Lithuanian ''puižė'' and Irish ''puisín'', both traditional calls to attract a cat.〔 The words ''puss'' and derived forms ''pussy'' and ''pusscat'' were extended to refer to girls or women by the seventeenth century.〔〔 This sense of ''pussy'' was used to refer specifically to genitalia by the eighteenth century, and from there further extended to refer to sexual intercourse involving a woman by the twentieth century.〔 Noah Webster, in his original 1828 ''American Dictionary of the English Language'', defined ''pussy'' as: "inflated, swelled; hence, fat, short and thick; and as persons of this make labor in respiration, the word is used for short breathed". He gave ''pursy'' as a "corrupt orthography" or misspelling of ''pussy''. In 1913, however, ''Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary'' reversed the original, suggesting that ''pussy'' was a "colloquial or low" variant of ''pursy''. That word, in turn, was defined as "fat and short-breathed", with etymology from Old French ''pousser'' "to push". The ''Webster's Third International Dictionary'' points out similarities between ''pussy'' in the sense of "vulva" and Low German or Scandinavian words meaning "pocket" or "purse", including Old Norse ''pūss'' and Old English ''pusa''. The medieval French word ''pucelle'', meaning "maiden" or "virgin", is not related to the English word. It is attested in Old French from the ninth century, and likely derives from Latin. The precise Latin source is disputed, with either ''puella'' "girl" or ''pulla'' "pullet, young female chicken" suggested as earlier sources. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「pussy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|