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Percy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: percy

English

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WOTD – 14 June 2025

Etymology

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A statue of Sir Henry Percy (1364–1403; sense 1) in Alnwick, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom. The son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, Percy was an English knight who fought in several campaigns against the Scots in the northern border and against the French during the Hundred Years’ War. He was nicknamed “Hotspur” by the Scots as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack.

Proper noun sense 1 (surname) and sense 3 (place names) are derived from Norman Percy (“a baronial surname”), from Percy-en-Auge (“a place in Pays d’Auge, Normandy, France”, literally “Percy in Auge”), from Old French Perci, from Late Latin Persiacum, from Latin Persius (“a Gallo-Roman nomen gentile”), from Etruscan 𐌐𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (persu); further etymology uncertain, possibly from 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”).

Proper noun sense 2 (given name) is either from the above, or is a clipping of Perc(ival) + -y (suffix forming familiar names).[1]

The common noun is derived from the proper noun.[2] Sense 2 (“penis”) is probably from the fact that Percy and penis begin with the same letter.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Percy

  2. An English surname from Old French.
  4. A male given name transferred from the surname or from a clipping of Percival, of Middle Ages and later usage.
    • 2008, Sebastian Barry, chapter 16, in The Secret Scripture […], London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, pages 198–199:
      Speaking of Sligo, I have written again to ask if I may visit there sometime soon, and talk to the administrator, who it turns out is an old acquaintance, a man called Percival Quinn, I think the only Percy I have heard of in the present era, let alone met. […] [T]here may be other files there that even Percy feels can't be communicated, but I don't know.
  6. A place name:
    1. A commune in Isère department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
    2. A village in Manche department, Normandy, France.
    3. A township in Kittson County, Minnesota, United States.
    4. An unincorporated community in Washington County, Mississippi, United States.
    5. A village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States.

Usage notes

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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Percy (plural Percies) (slang)

  1. (derogatory, also attributive)
    1. A male person regarded as unmanly or weak; a sissy; specifically (historical), a male conscientious objector.
      (unmanly male person): Synonyms: (derogatory) nancy, (derogatory) pansy; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man
      (unmanly male person): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:hypermasculine man
      • 1915 May 27, [George] Bernard Shaw, “The Conscientious Objector: Conscientious Objectors”, in What I Really Wrote about the War, standard edition, London: Constable and Company, published 1931, →OCLC, page 226:
        The military arm is considerably bothered by the problem of what to do with him [the conscientious objector]. It tacitly invites the rank and file to have a lark with him in barracks, in the hope that if he is bullied and told that he will be shot next morning, and mobbed and pilloried and photographed in The Daily Sketch as Percy (all Percies are now—shade of Hotspur!—supposed to be cowards) he will, perhaps, stop giving trouble.
      • 1957, S[idney] J[oseph] Perelman, “Cloudland Revisited: Vintage Swine”, in The Road to Miltown: Or, Under the Spreading Atrophy (A Touchstone Book), 1st Touchstone paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, published 1971, →ISBN, page 88:
        He never palliated his villainy, never helped old ladies across the street to show that he was a sweet kid au fond or prated about his Oedipus complex like the Percy boys who portray heavies today.
    2. (military) An educated soldier; specifically, an officer.
      • 1974, Berkely Mather [pseudonym; John Evan Weston-Davies], chapter 21, in The White Dacoit, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →ISBN, page 196:
        ["]I must admit I'm not terribly good at figures." / "Never met an officer as was," said Sam. "Most of the young Percies in our mob had to take their boots off to count up to twenty. But don't worry about that. Aunty'll give you the figures. She's got 'em all in her head, like a bleedin' adding machine. It's her handwriting and spelling that gets everybody down. It's soddin' awful she can't read it herself five minutes after."
  3. (Australia, UK, humorous) Chiefly in point Percy at the porcelain: the penis.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “Percy, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  2. ^ “Percy, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Swedish

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Etymology

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From English Percy. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1845. By folk etymology associated with Per (“Peter”).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Percy c (genitive Percys)

  1. a male given name
    • 2010, Susanna Alakoski, Håpas du trifs bra i fengelset, Bonniers, →ISBN, page 117:
      Samipojkar skulle bli jobbare, det var ett bra yrke för sådana som hette Conny och Sonny också. […] Och på hjälputbildningar runt om i landet skojlärde vi oss Y-barnsregeln. Varning för alla namn som slutar på Y!: Ronny, Tommy, Billy, Tony, Eddy, Lenny, Jimmy, Benny, Jerry, Freddy.
      Så skojades det. Menades det, kanske.
      Men Percypojkarna blev ju sällan raggare och bråkstakar...
      Undantaget som bekräftade regeln, skojade vi på
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
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