biggity
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editApparently from big + -ed + -y, a compound suffix used to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”; compare uppity. Alternately, perhaps from big + -ety, a suffix used to extend monosyllabic words; compare hot diggety, hippity-hop. Attested in the Southern United States since the late nineteenth century.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈbɪɡɪti/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
editbiggity (comparative more biggity, superlative most biggity)
- (US, African-American Vernacular) Conceited, uppity.
- 1883, Mark Twain, chapter 58, in Life on the Mississippi:
- [T]he captains were very independent and airy—pretty ‘biggity,’ as Uncle Remus would say.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 33, in The House Behind The Cedars:
- "Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows 'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' niggers—talks lack he own de whole county."
- 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Folio Society, published 2016, page 15:
- “Aint you talking biggity. I bet you better not let your grandmammy hear you talking like that.”
Synonyms
editReferences
edit- “biggity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “biggity, adj. (and adv.).”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2008.
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -ed
- English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival)
- English terms suffixed with -ety
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- American English
- African-American Vernacular English
- English terms with quotations