vixen

See also: Vixen

English

Alternative forms

• fixen (obsolete)
• vixon (obsolete)

Etymology

Alteration of fixen (“female fox”), from Middle English fixen, from Old English fyxen (“female fox”), from Proto-Germanic *fuhsinjō (“female fox”). Voiced v- is from the Southern dialectal forms of Middle English. Compare German Füchsin (“female fox”). See also fox.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪksən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪksən, -ɪksɪn

Noun

vixen (plural vixens)

1. A female fox.
2. A malicious, quarrelsome or temperamental woman.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292:

     He was prudent and industrious, and so good a husbandman, that he might have led a very easy and comfortable life, had not an arrant vixen of a wife soured his domestic quiet.

   • 1859:, George Eliot. Adam Bede: page 54. Köln: Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 1999:

     […] and if Solomon was as wise as he is reputed to be, I feel sure that when he compared a contentious woman to a continual dripping on a very rainy day, he had not a vixen in his eye–a fury with long nails, acrid and selfish.

3. (colloquial) A racy or salacious woman.
4. a wife who has sex with other men with her husband's consent
   • 2018 ‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding

     The stag gets a thrill from watching his vixen have sex with another man.

Synonyms

• (female fox): female fox
• (malicious, quarrelsome or temperamental woman): See Thesaurus:shrew
• (racy or salacious woman): See Thesaurus:promiscuous woman or Thesaurus:vamp

Hypernyms

• (female fox): fox

Related terms

• bull
• cuckold
• cuckquean
• stag

Translations

female fox

• Arabic: ثَعْلَبَة‎ (ar) (ṯaʿlaba)
• Catalan: guineu femella f, guilla (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 母狐狸 (mǔhúli)

• Czech: liška (cs) f
• Danish: hunræv c
• Dutch: vossin f, wijfjesvos f
• Esperanto: vulpino
• Faroese: revtík f
• Finnish: naaraskettu
• French: renarde (fr) f
• Galician: volpe (gl) m, golpe (gl) m, golpella f, bravún m, raposa (gl) f, rapón f, abeazón f
• Georgian: მელია (melia), მელა (mela)
• German: Füchsin (de) f, Fähe (de) f
• Hebrew: שועלה‎ (šualá)
• Hungarian: szuka (hu)
• Ido: foxino
• Irish: sionnach baineann m
• Italian: volpina f

• Japanese: 牝狐 (めぎつね, megitsune)
• Malay: rubah betina, musang betina, rubah, musang
• Norn: fúa f
• Old English: fyxen f
• Old Norse: fúa f, fóa f
• Polish: lisica (pl) f
• Portuguese: raposa (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਲੂੰਬੜੀ f (lūmbaṛī)
• Romanian: vulpiță (ro) f, vulpoaică (ro) f
• Russian: лиси́ца (ru) f (lisíca), лиса́ (ru) f (lisá)
• Sanskrit: लोमज़िक (lomazika)
• Scottish Gaelic: sionnach-boireann m
• Slovak: líška (sk) f
• Spanish: zorra (es) f
• Swedish: honräv c, rävtik c, räv (sv) c
• Ukrainian: лисиця f (lysycja)
• Volapük: jirenar
• Welsh: llwynoges

temperamental woman

• Breton: louskenn f, liboudenn (br) f
• Chinese: 賤人, 贱人 (jiàn rén); 婊子 (biǎozi); 娼婦, 娼妇 (chāngfù)
• Czech: semetrika (cs) f, čůza f, xantipa f, megera (cs) f
• French: chipie (fr) f, garce (fr) f, salope (fr) f, rosse (fr) f
• Galician: morlana f, prea (gl) f, penacha f, pelexa f, viltroteira f
• Georgian: ანჩხლი (ančxli), მეგერა (megera)
• German: Schlampe (de) f, Drachen (de) m, Zicke (de) f
• Hungarian: kurva (hu), szuka (hu), fúria, hárpia (hu)

• Italian: stronza (it) f, troia (it) f
• Japanese: すべた (subeta)
• Polish: kurwa (pl) f, suka (pl) f, jędza (pl) f
• Portuguese: megera (pt) f
• Russian: су́ка (ru) f (súka), сте́рва (ru) f (stérva)
• Scottish Gaelic: galla (gd) f
• Spanish: puta (es) f, perra (es) f, zorra (es) f

attractive woman — see fox

Anagrams

• invex