puss

pronunciation

How to pronounce puss in British English: UK [pʊs] word uk audio image

How to pronounce puss in American English: US [pʊs] word us audio image

Noun:

obscene terms for female genitals
informal terms referring to a domestic cat

Word Origin

puss: puss: English has two distinct words puss. The origins of the one meaning ‘cat’ [16] are rather mysterious. It appears to have been borrowed from Middle Low German pūs, but there the trail goes cold. Since it is basically used for calling cats, it may have originated simply in an exclamation (like pss) used for gaining their attention. Puss the slang term for ‘mouth’ or ‘face’ [19] comes from Irish bus ‘lip, mouth’. Pussy ‘cat’ [18] is derived from puss, of course, but pussy the slang term for ‘cunt’ [19] may be Low German or Scandinavian origin (Low German had pūse ‘vulva’ and Old Norse púss ‘pocket, pouch’).

puss (n.1): "cat," 1520s, but probably much older than the record, perhaps imitative of the hissing sound commonly used to get a cat's attention. A conventional name for a cat in Germanic languages and as far off as Afghanistan; it is the root of the principal word for "cat" in Rumanian (pisica) and secondary words in Lithuanian (puz), Low German (puus), Swedish dialect katte-pus, etc. Applied to a girl or woman from c. 1600, originally in a negative sense, implying unpleasant cat-like qualities; but by mid-19c. in affectionate use.

puss (n.2): "the face" (but sometimes, especially in pugilism slang, "the mouth"), 1890, slang, from Irish pus "lip, mouth."