flibbertigibbet

American  

[flib-er-tee-jib-it] / ˈflɪb ər tiˌdʒɪb ɪt /

noun

1. a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

2. Archaic. a gossip.

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flibbertigibbet British  

/ ˈflɪbətɪˌdʒɪbɪt /

noun

1. an irresponsible, silly, or gossipy person

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Etymology

Origin of flibbertigibbet

1425–75; late Middle English flepergebet, flipergebet; reduplicative compound of obscure origin

Explanation

A flibbertigibbet is a very silly chatterbox. If your teacher calls you a flibbertigibbet, she clearly doesn't think you're a serious or scholarly person. The noun flibbertigibbet is a colorful — if slightly old fashioned — word for a ridiculous busybody, someone who talks and gossips a lot but doesn't have much of any substance to say. It's most often used to talk about a frivolous young woman. Flibbertigibbet is a Middle English invention, a word that sounds like meaningless chatter, and it's still used fairly often in Yorkshire, England.

Example Sentences

That left Jonathan with lifelong feelings of guilt, which led him on several occasions to announce that he was abandoning what he once called “this footling flibbertigibbet world of theater.”

From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2019

McKinnon is given the same weirdo role she played in Ghostbusters and Rough Night—the fast-thinking, overconfident flibbertigibbet who seems to have one foot in our universe and the other somewhere else.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2018

Ms. Goodwin stays true to her conception of Victoria as a combination of coquettish flibbertigibbet, tough proto-feminist and compassionate, perhaps too-good-to-be-true liberal humanist.

From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2018

Laura is a bit of a flibbertigibbet with a poor grasp of colloquial expressions.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2017

That it was the Owenses who had got involved in this nonsense, rather than some flibbertigibbet johnny-come-latelies, counted for a lot, for the Owenses were respectable and respected.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman