" 

 ==balance== 
 This page has one sentence about the basic definition of the word, and a huge amount about the slang/profane uses. Perhaps the former should be extended; is there no information about female dogs available beyond their name? This is an encyclopaedia, not a dictionary.  

  
 i feel that whoever is looking this definition up is very appropiate and should be deleted from wikipedia...IMMEDIATLY. this word is used very often and is also a very ""mean"" word. i belive that is majorly true. very much so. okay so, the good meaning is a female dog.  BITCH !!!!!!!!!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by   •    

 ==etymology== 
 The word bitch is from the Old Norse Bikkjuna meaning ""female of the dog"" of unknown origin, Grimm derives the Old Norse words from Lapp Pittja, But OED notes that ""the converse is equally possible."" 
 The adj. Bitchy was first seen in 1925.  
 The verb meaning to complain in 1930. 
 Slang Bitchen ""good"" is attested to the 1950's 

 == reclaiming the word bitch == 
 The word bitch is actually only offencive in American and Canadian English. In most other English variants bitch maintains it's correct definition - female canine. People have argued that bitch is different because it is used as an insult - but so is ""pig"", ""dog"", ""cow"" and others. These are not considered profane, so why is bitch? As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to ""reclaim"" as bitch simply means a female canine. 

 It may be used as a pejorative or descriptor - that does not make it a profanity. 

    
 It should definately say something about Kyle Vanderweilen and all his bitchin Is there any particular evidence of women ""reclaiming"" the word bitch in the 90s? Can anyone point to articles on this, etc.? The song is definitely interesting and belongs here, but doesn't actually reclaim the word ""bitch"" any more than it reclaims the word ""sinner."" 

 Also, I don't really understand the last paragraph and it sucks  I was going to try and clear it up, but I realized I don't know what it means. Can someone point to a source that lays out the argument about bitches, fertility and patriarchy more clearly? 

 

 :We don't need articles at all as I there are definitely enough examples (even outside of the 90s). Missy Elliot cleary and repeatedly reclaims the word, for instance, ""She's a Bitch"".   

 ::References are fine  just the name ""Missy Elliot"" got me to find a quote of a rolling stone review that mentioned ""reclaiming"" the word. In fact, if some one knows more about her, it might be interesting to add a section on her work and on how it relates to women/slurs more generally within hip-hop.   

 :::How relevant is this reclamation? It seems to me poison for a woman to use an epithet which still strongly connotes despised traits. I don't see how using a word connoting ""querolous"", ""spiteful"", and ""malicious"" can be empowering. But I don't know; life's a bitch.   

 ::::It stems from a reaction to the prevalence of tagging any woman who doesn't adhere to a certain standard of femininity as a bitch. To use a literary example, in the novel The Handmaid's Tale the narrator related the feeling that, whenever she outsmarted a man, she could almost hear him calling her a bitch in his mind, even her own husband. -   

 :::::That literary reaction you recited is jealousy; men have names for other men who outsmart them too, but, not having a word like ""bitch"" for them, they have to resort to a greater variety of pejoritive epithets. Though you haven't been specific, I think that standard of femininity you referred to is a pretext for subordination, which both sexes often strive to impose on the other, but men have traditionally had more power. Because it is such a popular epithet in slang, the connotations of ""bitch"" are diffuse, though still commonly pernicious. I think bitch, in itself, is not chiefly a denunciation to punish women who do not conform to that standard, but rather a contemptuous word often used for it. 

 :::::However, I still don't see the point of reclamation, for if ""bitch"" were purged of contem