From Housewife To Hussy

A drug addled, homeless man shouts “hussy!” as I pass by. Now that’s a word I haven’t heard in a while! Let’s have a look at its origins.

The word hussy originated in the 1500’s as a colloquial contraction of the Middle English word husewif (housewife); derived from huse (house) + wif (wife).

By the 1650s, hussy meant simply woman or girl. It was around this time that there was a semantic shift, and phrases like “pert hussy” were shortened to simply hussy. Thus hussy began to be used to describe a woman or girl displaying improper, brazen, or disreputable behaviour.

By the early to mid 1700’s, hussy had lost its original positive meaning entirely to become a derogatory term.

I declare hussy the word-of-the-day. So let it be written, so let it be done. Now go forth and use it to describe the brazen, mischievous and ill behaved women in your life. Preferably affectionately.