different between wuss vs chickenshit

English

Etymology

Probably a blend of wimp +? puss. Compare later wussy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?s/

Noun

wuss (plural wusses)

1. (slang) A weak, ineffectual, cowardly, or timid person.
   • 1976, Univ. N. Carolina, Chapel Hill, Campus Slang typescript

     Nov. 6 Come on you wuss, hit a basket..! John's a wuss.

   • 1995, Rob Huizenga, You're Okay, It's Just a Bruise Page 120

     ...if you got a reputation as a wuss around the league, nobody else would ever even trade for you, or pick you up if you got cut.

   • 2003, Andrea P. Roberts, Uncovered: 20 Hints for Men from a Bisexual Woman Page 7

     And finally, don't be a wuss. Have a rich-man's attitude. Men who have money are generally confident and assertive.

   • 2003, Marc J. Soares, 100 Hikes in Yosemite National Park Page 21

     ...stop, study the map, and wait for the others. It's better to be a wuss than a stud.

Synonyms

• (weak, ineffectual, cowardly, or timid person): pansy, pushover, weakling, wimp, puss, pussy; see also Thesaurus:milksop or Thesaurus:coward

Derived terms

• wuss out

Translations

Verb

wuss (third-person singular simple present wusses, present participle wussing, simple past and past participle wussed)

1. Only used in wuss out

Catawba

Noun

wuss

1. Alternative spelling of wus

Scots

Alternative forms

• wis, wiss, woss, vouss

Etymology

From Middle English wus, wose (“juice, sap”), from Old English w?s (“moisture, exuded liquid, juice”), from Proto-Germanic *w?s? (“juice, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“fat, moisture”). Cognate with Danish os (“vine sap”), West Frisian weaze (“slime, mud”), Dutch waas (“marshy land, vapor, mist, film”). More at English ooze.

Noun

wuss (plural wusses)

1. juice
2. The liquid obtained from boiling or squeezing fruit or vegetable substances

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