Link Centre Dictionary

tetchy

UK/ˈtɛt͡ʃi/ uncommon uk

adjective

1.

easily irritated or annoyed

  • “an incorrigibly fractious young man”
  • “not the least nettlesome of his countrymen”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

Uncertain, first attested as teachie in the 1597 first quarto versions of Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. Also variously derived from English tetch (“tantrum, fit of anger”); from Scots tache (“blotch, fault”); from Middle English tatch (“blemish”) &c. under influence from touchy.

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