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termagant

Pronunciation: /ˈtɜːməɡ(ə)nt/

The English word “termagant” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A brawling, boisterous, and turbulent person or thing.
  2. A censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome woman; a scold, a shrew.

adjective

  1. Having the temperament of a termagant (noun sense 1); bad-tempered, brawling, boisterous, turbulent.
  2. Of a woman, her behaviour, etc.: censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome; scolding, shrewish.

Etymology

PIE word *tréyes The noun is derived from Termagant (“fictitious deity with a violent temperament represented as being worshipped by Muslims or other non-Christians”), from Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”), from Anglo-Norman Tervagant, Tervagaunt, Tervagan, and Old French Tervagant, Tervagan (possibly with the addition of…

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