Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Peevish; testy: "As a critic gets older, he or she usually grows more tetchy and limited in responses” ( James Wolcott).
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. See techy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. easily irritated or annoyed
Etymologies
- 1592, teachie, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene iii, line 32. (Wiktionary)
- Probably from Middle English tache, teche, blemish (influenced by touchy), from Old French tache, teche, from Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic taikns, sign; see deik- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The narrative now is that he is getting "tetchy" about the stupid questions the media keep asking.”
“I just have to hope that this kind of tetchy judicial questioning is the way they push the lawyers to make their best case.”
“I guess "tetchy" came in when they completely revised it.”
“MPA member Jenny Jones accused Mr Yates of being "tetchy" with the MPA when the issue was last discussed.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“He sits up in Connecticut, splendidly isolated, working day and night, a lonely and rather tetchy old man.”
The Guardian: Philip Roth: Still fascinated by himself | Observer profile
“It's down to midback again, and I'm very tetchy about it; at this length it's so heavy that it pulls most of the curl out of itself.”
“I get tetchy, wanting to go out and get things done.”
“Such things make the Davidites curse, along with his occasionally tetchy manner on television or a tendency to talk at, rather than to, some of his parliamentary colleagues.”
The Guardian: David Miliband has left frontline politics – but for how long?
“The intention was to station one in each of his three main homes, he explained in that permanently tetchy rasp, but he loves them too much to leave them alone.”
“And on this showing, the auspices are good, by and large making those dissenting voices seem querulous and tetchy.”
The Guardian: Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic – review
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tetchy’.
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tyromancy, tyroma, tyroid, tyriasis, tyrannicide, typtology, typothetae, typomania, typography, typographia, typhonic, typhomania and 930 more...
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Yiddishkeit
There are a few short lists of Yiddish words, but none appropriate to the glory of the language, and none that are open. Thought I'd start one, and would love contributions. I'm tagging as I go, an...
schmuck, nosh, chutzpah, shtick, kvetch, oy vey, oy gevalt, shvitz, shtik, shiksa, putz, mensch and 94 more...
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crime slang
slang terms for crimes, also words associated with shady behaviour
phony paper passin, stroppy, situation, clip, flip, artform, volatile, teleport, squee, futz, fizzog, hotch up and 23 more...
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words I learned from Firefly
Joss Whedon knows no shame
fancible, foufaraw, frippery, corpsified, shindig, rutting, creepifying, gorram, ironical, sanguine, pantywaist ijit, whinge and 24 more...
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adj. + adv.
vainglorious, lanuginous, altiloquent, ambisextrous, desiderative, flothery, liquescent, logoed, autotelic, tropology, erotogenic, crocky and 108 more...
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quotato's Words
prospicience, appoggiatura, actually, thrum, nisus, univocal, eschatology, concupiscible, penury, psychedelic, vapid, braggadocio and 107 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Vocabulary
Words I come across while reading.
talus, echelon, onanistic, cabochon, avocation, charnel, moue, portentous, prolixity, astringent, hoary, patina and 165 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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xyzprincess's Words
crabwise, virtu, peripatetic, idyll, trencherman, equivocate, flummery, hoi polloi, pixilated, albatross, wangle, bodacious and 170 more...
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madmelanie's Words
monkey, folderol, snark, snarky, flibbertigibbet, faith, asshat, pirouette, avuncular, exegesis, memento mori, verisimilitude and 379 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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pixistix's Words
cumquat, circumlocution, panoply, propinquity, contumely, quietus, fardel, tmesis, tipsy, giddy, trudge, vortex and 211 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tetchy.
hekate101 From the verb 'tetch', a variant of the Yiddish 'kvetch'. Dec 16, 2008
siddharthsoni Wonder about the origin... Something similar to itchy, I presume. Dec 16, 2008