different between martinet vs chickenshit

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mæ?t?n?t/
• IPA^(key): /mæ?t?n?t/
• IPA^(key): /m??t??n?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

After the example of 17th-century French army officer Jean Martinet.

Noun

martinet (plural martinets)

1. (military) A strict disciplinarian.
2. (figuratively) Anyone who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of discipline, or to forms and fixed methods or rules.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French martinet.

Noun

martinet (plural martinets)

1. A martin; a swift.

Anagrams

• intermat

Catalan

Etymology

Martí +? -et

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /m??.ti?n?t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /m?r.ti?n?t/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ma?.ti?net/

Noun

martinet m (plural martinets)

1. heron (a wading bird of the family Ardeidae)

Related terms

• agró
• bernat
• garseta

Further reading

• “martinet” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma?.ti.n?/

Etymology 1

From marteau (“hammer”).

Noun

martinet m (plural martinets)

1. multi-tail whip, comprising leather or whipcord thongs fixed on a handle, to dust off or to administer a beating (usually to a child's bottom)
2. mechanical hammer on a motor-driven cogwheel, as used to beat metal

Etymology 2

Martin +? -et

Noun

martinet m (plural martinets)

1. martin (any of the swallow-like birds, black with a white throat, of family Hirundinidae)
2. swift (bird)

Further reading

• “martinet” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• méritant, terminât

English

Alternative forms

• chicken-shit, chicken shit

Etymology

chicken +? shit

Pronunciation

Adjective

chickenshit (comparative more chickenshit, superlative most chickenshit)

1. (slang, vulgar) Petty and contemptible; contemptibly unimportant. (Compare bullshit.)
2. (vulgar, slang) Cowardly.

   How chickenshit of that girl to just stand there and do nothing.

Noun

chickenshit (countable and uncountable, plural chickenshits)

1. (slang, vulgar) Petty and contemptible thing(s).

   Don't waste your time on that chickenshit.

2. (slang, vulgar) A coward.

   I told him I wasn't having his insults, and he just backed right down. What a chickenshit.

3. (vulgar, military, slang) A low-ranking officer who lords over and needlessly makes life miserable for his underlings; a petty, abusive martinet.

   That chickenshit drove his men nearly to mutiny.

Synonyms

• (coward): coward; (slang:) chicken, pussy, wuss, shithouse
• (petty or contemptible thing): (mostly vulgar:) shit, crap, bullcrap, bullshit, junk, trash, dogshit, Irish bull, horseshit

Translations