bitseach 🔊

Usage examples

• Is í an bhitseach sin a ghoid mo chuid airgid.
  It was that bitch who stole my money.
• Éist do bhéal, a bhitseach.
  Shut your mouth, you bitch.

Etymology

Bitseach is a native Irish word meaning "female dog," cognate with English "bitch" and Old Norse bikkja, all tracing to a Proto-Germanic root. The term entered Irish through early Germanic contact and is recorded in classical Irish dictionaries as the standard word for a female dog. Its use as a human insult parallels the trajectory of its English cognate, intensifying in register when applied to people.

Cultural notes

In Irish, bitseach retains its literal zoological sense (female dog) in standard and rural usage, but when directed at a person — nearly always a woman — it functions as a strong insult comparable to its English counterpart. Irish speakers are generally aware of both registers. The word appears in Irish-language literature and dictionaries without euphemism in its animal sense, but its deployment as a human insult is solidly vulgar and confrontational. Regional variation in southern dialects (Munster) may produce the form "bitsigh" in the vocative.

Same meaning, other languages

Accuracy

82% of 11 voters say this translation is accurate.