sissy
Americannoun
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Disparaging and Offensive. an effeminate boy or man.
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a timid or cowardly person.
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a sister, especially a younger sister.
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sissy
Explanation
Sissy is a derogatory name for someone, especially a man or boy, who seems weak or cowardly, or who acts in a stereotypically feminine way. People who call others sissies aren't just insulting the so-called sissy. They're also implying that there is something weak and fearful about being a girl or a woman — it's the same as telling a boy, "You throw like a girl." It's unkind and also inaccurate. Sissy comes from sister, and its earliest use to mean "effeminate man" was in the late 1800s.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“You worried so much about me, but look sissy, I didn’t turn out too bad,” Barnes said as she displayed the black gown she was just donned with.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 20, 2021
“I was never ashamed of being a sissy, and I wore the bullying as a badge of honor,” he writes.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2019
“Here in front of you? I might be the biggest sissy you’ve ever had on the show.”
From The Verge ● Oct. 31, 2019
Mussolini, like Roosevelt, transformed himself from a sissy into a fire-breathing imperialist.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 17, 2018
I’m afraid he’ll laugh at me, he’ll despise me for being a sissy about a bunch of girls, for making a fuss about nothing.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Everyone contributed what money they could to save George’s business from Mr. Potter, an unsentimental tycoon who makes the toughest takeover bankers and lawyers seem like sissies.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
As Samir muses in one reflective moment: “Immigration, it is not for sissies … The price for a better life, you see, it is always a little higher than you think it will be.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2019
After the Stonewall riots in 1969, young gay men who had been derided as "sissies" began celebrating gym-buffed bodies, said Les Wright, editor of the bear history tome "The Bear Book."
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2014
The Christian Science Monitor is nervous that “The Millennial Generation Could Kill the NFL” – because, sissies that we are, we really don’t like seeing people suffer long-term brain damage.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2013
Television viewing in Haiti is not for sissies.
From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2012
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.
