antsy

English

WOTD – 2 April 2010

Etymology

From ant +‎ -y, as in ants in one's pants. First noted as a rural Southern USA figure of speech in the early 20th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæn.tsi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

antsy (comparative antsier, superlative antsiest)

1. (slang) Restless, apprehensive and fidgety.
   • 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest:

     The children were antsy and worried […]

   • 1993 November, Lynn Hirschberg, “Brat on a Hot Tin Roof”, in Vanity Fair‎^[1]:

     For hating it so much, she's remarkably nomadic. In the last four years, she's moved at least eight times. "I get very antsy," she explains. "I don't like to be in one place for too long. But I settle in each time. I do like a house to be a home."

Derived terms

• antsily
• antsiness

 

Related terms

• ants in one's pants
• have ants in one's pants
• shpilkes

Translations

restless, apprehensive and fidgety

• Armenian: անհանգիստ (hy) (anhangist)
• Dutch: ongerust (nl), opgewonden (nl), rusteloos (nl)
• Estonian: rahutu, ärevil
• Finnish: levoton (fi)
• French: agité (fr), inquiet (fr)
• German: nervös (de), zappelig (de), kribbelig, hibbelig (de)
• Hungarian: nyugtalan (hu), be van sózva
• Italian: nervosetto m
• Portuguese: inquieto (pt)
• Russian: беспоко́йный (ru) (bespokójnyj)
• Spanish: inquieto (es)

See also

• toey

Anagrams

• -nasty, Ansty, Nasty, Santy, Tansy, Yants, nasty, tansy

Malagasy

Noun

antsy

1. knife

Derived terms

• antsibe (“cleaver; axe; hatchet; billhook”)
• antsiben' Andriamanitra (“rainbow”)
• antsifotsy (“sword”)
• antsipika (“pocket knife; penknife”)