different between feist vs geist

English

Alternative forms

• fist, fice

Etymology

Earliest sense is “fart”, and later “stink” as abbreviation for fysting cur “stinking dog” (1520s). From Middle English fysten (mid-15th century), from Old English. Cognates with Middle Dutch veest and Dutch vijst. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *fistiz (“a fart”), presumably from Proto-Indo-European *pesd-, though this is disputed.

One explanation for the association of farting with small dogs is given in an 1811 slang dictionary, which suggests that the dogs were blamed for farting, specifically defining fice as “a small windy escape backwards, more obvious to the nose than ears; frequently by old ladies charged on their lap-dogs.”

Cognate terms include German Fist (“soft fart”), Danish fise (“to blow, to fart”) and Middle English askefise (“bellows”, literally “fire-blower, ash-blower”), from Old Norse; originally “a term of reproach among northern nations for an unwarlike fellow who stayed at home in the chimney corner”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa?st/
• Rhymes: -a?st

Noun

feist (plural feists)

1. (US, regional) A small, snappy, belligerent mixed-breed dog.
2. (vulgar) Silent (but pungent) flatulence.

   Synonym: SBD

Usage notes

The term feist is uncommon, but the derived term feisty is common.

Derived terms

• feisty

References

Anagrams

• Feits, Fites, fetis

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa??st/

Etymology 1

From Middle High German veizet, from Old High German feizzit, from Proto-West Germanic *faitid, whence also fett (through Middle Low German).

Adjective

feist (comparative feister, superlative am feistesten)

1. (derogatory, now chiefly literary) fat (of a person)

Usage notes

• Feist typically adds a negative moral judgment to the description, implying gluttony, laziness, and/or unrightful wealth. For example, ein feister Kapitalist (“a fat capitalist”).

Declension

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

feist

1. second-person singular present of feien

Further reading

• “feist” in Duden online
• “feist” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

English

Etymology

From German Geist (“spirit, ghost, mind”). Doublet of ghost.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?st

Noun

geist (plural geists)

1. Ghost, apparition.
   • 1877, The spiritual magazine:

     The geists eat and drink, but only as geists — not as spirits. ' We have dined,' they say ' sumptuously.' A vapour- ... If dead men tell no tales, their geists will tell them, if they find opportunity.

   • 1996, Stephen Barker, Excavations and Their Objects:

     [...] it makes no difference whether these figures were real, corporeal beings or not, since each one, in terms of Freud's (auto) aesthetic, is a spirit, a geist, a complex function of Freud's worldview.

2. Spirit (of a group, age, era, etc).
   • 1995, Donald Pizer, The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism:

     [...] a term badly applied, as the method is neither a historicism (the belief that each era or period has a geist, principle of identity, or a definable sense of destiny) nor new.

Related terms

• poltergeist
• zeitgeist

References

• OED, geist

Anagrams

• gites, gîtes, tiges

Estonian

Noun

geist

1. elative singular of gei

Old High German

Alternative forms

• gheist, keist

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz.

Noun

geist m (plural geista)

1. spirit

Declension

Descendants

• Middle High German: geist
  • German: Geist
    • ? English: geist
    • ? Danish: gejst
    • ? Swedish: geist
    • ? Norwegian Bokmål: geist
  • Hunsrik: Geest, Geist
  • Luxembourgish: Geescht
  • Yiddish: ?????? (gayst)