tetchy
/ˈtɛt͡ʃi/ adjective
Forms tetchier tetchiest titchy techy techie teachy teachie teechy tetchie tecchy titchie tichy tertchy tatchy tachy
- adjective (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Southern US) Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work.
Synonyms
touchy cranky fractious irritable nettlesome peevish peckish pettish petulant scratchy testy techy
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective See Techy. Shak.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tetchy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details