fishwife

English

Etymology

From Middle English fysshewyfe; equivalent to fish +‎ wife (“(obsolete) woman”) (see also midwife).

Noun

fishwife (plural fishwives)

(archaic) A woman who sells or works with fish; a female fishmonger.
(derogatory) A vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice.
(Geordie, derogatory) A person, especially a woman, with poor personal hygiene.
(LGBT, slang) The wife of a homosexual man.[1]

Synonyms

(woman who sells fish): fishmongeress (fishmongress), fishwoman, piscatrix (historical)
(nagging woman): See Thesaurus:shrew

Hypernyms

(woman who sells fish): fishmonger
(wife of a homosexual man): beard

Coordinate terms

(woman who sells fish): fishman

Translations

a woman who sells or works with fish

Aromanian: piscãroanji f
Danish: fiskerkone c
Dutch: visvrouw
French: poissarde (fr) f, poissonnière (fr) f
German: Fischhändlerin (de) f, Fischverkäuferin (de) f
Manx: caillagh eeast f
Norwegian: fiskerkone m or f
Portuguese: peixeira (pt) f
Romanian: pescăreasă (ro) f
Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-èisg, ban-iasgair
Spanish: pescadera (es) f
Volapük: fitajitedan

a vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice

Dutch: viswijf (nl)
French: poissarde (fr) f (cf. langage de poissarde)
Polish: przekupka (pl) f

References

Reuben, David R. (1969) chapter 8, in Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask, New York: David McKay Company, Inc., published 1970, →LCCN, Homosexuals have their own language?, page 145: “FISHWIFE: a male homosexual's real wife”

Scots

Etymology

fish +‎ wife

Noun

fishwife (plural fishwifes)

fishwife
(derogatory) woman of coarse behaviour, temperament and vocabulary

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.