feist

Meaning

1. A small, snappy, belligerent mixed-breed dog; a feist dog.
2. Feisty behavior.
3. Silent (but pungent) flatulence.

Synonyms

fice

cur

pooch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/faɪst/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: fysten

Inherited from Old English: -

Cognate with Middle Dutch: veest

Cognate with Dutch: vijst

Cognate with German: Fist

Cognate with Danish: fise

Cognate with Middle English: askefise

Cognate with Old Norse: -

In summary

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. Cognate 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”.