harridan

English

WOTD – 6 August 2010

Etymology

Perhaps a modification of French haridelle (“old horse, nag”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɹ.ɪ.dən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹ.ɪ.dən/, /ˈhæɹ.ɪ.dən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

harridan (plural harridans)

1. A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 13:

     Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?

Synonyms

• (vicious and scolding woman): For semantic relationships of this term, see shrew in the Thesaurus.

Translations

vicious and scolding woman

• Armenian: ջադու (hy) (ǰadu), վհուկ (hy) (vhuk)
• Bulgarian: зла старица f (zla starica), вещица (bg) (veštica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 老太婆 (zh) (lǎotàipó), 老潑婦, 老泼妇 (lǎopōfù)

• Dutch: viswijf f, harpij f, helleveeg (nl) f,
• Finnish: äkäpussi (fi)
• French: harpie (fr) f, dragon (fr) m, virago (fr) f, haridelle (fr) f, mégère (fr) f, xanthippe f, casse-couilles (fr) f

• German: Drache (de) m (alter Drachen (de) m), Xanthippe (de) f, Hexe (de) f, Vettel (de) f
• Hungarian: banya (hu)
• Japanese: 鬼女 (ja) (きじょ, gijo), 鬼婆 (ja) (おにばば, onibaba), 悪婆 (ja) (あくば, akuba)
• Polish: jędza f, wiedźma (pl) f
• Russian: ве́дьма (ru) f (védʹma), карга́ (ru) f (kargá), мы́мра (ru) f (mýmra), гры́мза (ru) f (grýmza), меге́ра (ru) f (megéra)
• Spanish: vieja gruñona f, arpía f