-zilla
AmericanUsage
What does -zilla mean? The combining form -zilla is used like a suffix meaning “monster.” It is very occasionally used in informal or slang terms. The suffix -zilla is often pejorative or insulting—and, because it is often used in reference to women, sexist.The form -zilla comes from the name Godzilla, an Anglicized version of Japanese Gojira, the name given to the terrifying sea monster that destroys villages and fights giant moths. Learn what Gojira means in Japanese at our entry for Godzilla.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.