"scaredy-cat" meaning in English

See scaredy-cat in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: scaredy-cats [plural]
Etymology: scared + -y + cat. Etymology templates: {{af|en|scared|-y|cat}} scared + -y + cat Head templates: {{en-noun}} scaredy-cat (plural scaredy-cats)
  1. A coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared. Categories (topical): Fear, People Synonyms: scaredy cat Translations (a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared): pelkuri (Finnish), Angsthase [masculine] (German), gyáva nyúl (Hungarian), gyáva kukac (Hungarian), ко́ркач (kórkač) [masculine] (Macedonian), пла́шливец (plášlivec) [masculine] (Macedonian), стра́шливец (strášlivec) [masculine] (Macedonian), др́сло (dŕslo) [neuter] (Macedonian), toupiore (Maori), reddhare [masculine] (Norwegian)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for scaredy-cat meaning in English (3.7kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "scared",
        "3": "-y",
        "4": "cat"
      },
      "expansion": "scared + -y + cat",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "scared + -y + cat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scaredy-cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "scaredy-cat (plural scaredy-cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -y",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fear",
          "orig": "en:Fear",
          "parents": [
            "Emotions",
            "Mind",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1918, Florence Kiper Frank, “The Child and the Little Sister”, in The Midland, volume 4, page 61",
          "text": "I don't care — I wouldn't be such a scaredy-cat for anything.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1933, Dorothy Parker, The Waltz",
          "text": "Oh, yes, do let's dance together—it's so nice to meet a man who isn't a scaredy-cat about catching my beri-beri.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared."
      ],
      "id": "en-scaredy-cat-en-noun-DhzPOVgQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "coward",
          "coward"
        ],
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ],
        [
          "high-strung",
          "high-strung"
        ],
        [
          "scare",
          "scare"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "scaredy cat"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "word": "pelkuri"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Angsthase"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "word": "gyáva nyúl"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "word": "gyáva kukac"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "kórkač",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ко́ркач"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "plášlivec",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "пла́шливец"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "strášlivec",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "стра́шливец"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "dŕslo",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "др́сло"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "word": "toupiore"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "reddhare"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "scaredy-cat"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "scared",
        "3": "-y",
        "4": "cat"
      },
      "expansion": "scared + -y + cat",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "scared + -y + cat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scaredy-cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "scaredy-cat (plural scaredy-cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms suffixed with -y",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Fear",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1918, Florence Kiper Frank, “The Child and the Little Sister”, in The Midland, volume 4, page 61",
          "text": "I don't care — I wouldn't be such a scaredy-cat for anything.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1933, Dorothy Parker, The Waltz",
          "text": "Oh, yes, do let's dance together—it's so nice to meet a man who isn't a scaredy-cat about catching my beri-beri.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "coward",
          "coward"
        ],
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ],
        [
          "high-strung",
          "high-strung"
        ],
        [
          "scare",
          "scare"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "scaredy cat"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "word": "pelkuri"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Angsthase"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "word": "gyáva nyúl"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "word": "gyáva kukac"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "kórkač",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ко́ркач"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "plášlivec",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "пла́шливец"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "strášlivec",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "стра́шливец"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "dŕslo",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "др́сло"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "word": "toupiore"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "a coward; a person who is easily frightened or high-strung and easily scared",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "reddhare"
    }
  ],
  "word": "scaredy-cat"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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