tetchy

Meaning

Adjective

• Easily annoyed or irritated; peevish, testy or irascible.

Origin

• Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. First use in print in 1592 in the form teachie in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene iii, line 32.
• It is uncertain what inspired Shakespeare's or possible other prior use. According to some etymologists, from the obsolete noun tetch. According to others, from a variant of Scots tache ("blotch, fault"). According to others, from Middle English tatch, tache, tecche, teche, influenced by touchy, from Old French tache, teche (Modern French tache), from Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽𐍃 ("sign") (compare Old English tācn ("sign, token"), Modern English token), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.