termagant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɜːməɡ(ə)nt/
ipa: /ˈtɜɹməɡənt/
Forms: form: more termagant
form: most termagant
Etymology: PIE word
 *tréyes
The noun is derived from Termagant (“fictitious deity with a violent temperament represented as being worshipped by Muslims or other non-Christians”), from Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”), from Anglo-Norman Tervagant, Tervagaunt, Tervagan, and Old French Tervagant, Tervagan (possibly with the addition of Anglo-Norman -aunt, Old French -ant (suffix forming present participles of verbs, some of which were used as nouns); modern French Tervagant (historical)); further etymology uncertain, one common suggestion being that it is from Latin ter (“three times, thrice”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + vagāns (“rambling, wandering”) (the present active participle of vagor (“to ramble, roam, wander”), from vagus (“rambling, roaming, wandering”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hwogos) + -or (inflected form of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Medieval French chansons de geste named Termagant as one of three deities supposedly worshipped by Muslims, the others being Apollin and Mahound, and the name may allude to the wandering of the moon (the crescent moon being a common symbol of Islam) in the form of the mythological goddesses Selene in heaven, Diana on earth, and Proserpina in the underworld.
The reason for the shift in meaning from the fictitious deity to a brawling and turbulent person is unclear.
The adjective is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: [R]idiculous ſenſeles ſentences, finicall, flaunting phraſes, and termagant inkhorne tearmes throughout his booke, […]
ref: 1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 44:
text: O Cupid vvhat a Termagant tyrant art thou / Over poore ſubjects of ſixteene! There is not one / Among a hundred of thoſe tickliſh Trifles / But is more taken vvith a Toy at ſixteene / Then ſix and tvventy: […]
ref: 1632 (date written), Richard Brome, “The Novella, a Comedie. […]”, in A[lexander] Brome, editor, Five New Playes, […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, signature I2, recto:
text: What if I stayed on at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia as the Head of School of English? The remuneration was not something to be sneeze at, but I had to remain cheerful and composed even in the face of a hostile dean, spoiled students and termagant parents.
ref: 2025 September 4, Danton Remoto, “What ifs in one’s life”, in The Manila Times, retrieved 07 Sep 2025:
glosses: Having the temperament of a termagant (noun sense 1); bad-tempered, brawling, boisterous, turbulent.
examples: text: [F]earing his Father ſhould knovv of it, and his VVife, vvho is a Termagant Lady: but vvhen he finds the Coaſt is clear, and his late ruffling knovvn to none but you, he vvill be drunk vvith joy.
ref: 1667 August 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Dryden], Sr Martin Mar-all, or The Feign’d Innocence: A Comedy. […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1668, →OCLC, Act I, page 4:
text: But this Lady is ſo Termagant an Empreſs! and he ſo ſubmiſſive, ſo tame, ſo led a Keeper, and as proud of his Slavery, as a French man: I am confident he dares not find her falſe, for fear of a quarrel vvith her; […]
ref: 1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:
text: He answered Phillis a little abruptly at supper the same evening, upon which she threw his periwig into the fire. 'Well,' said he 'thou art a brave termagant jade: do you know, hussy, that fair wig cost forty guineas?'
ref: 1709 August 24 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [pseudonym; Richard Steele et al.], “Saturday, August 13, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 54; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume I, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 325:
text: The Eldeſt vvas a termagant, imperious, prodigal, levvd, profligate VVench, as ever breath'd; ſhe uſed to Rantipole about the Houſe, pinch the Children, kick the Servants, and torture the Cats and the Dogs; […]
ref: 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How the Guardians of the Deceas’d Mrs. Bull’s Three Daughters Came to John, and what Advice they Gave Him; wherein is Briefly Treated the Characters of the Three Daughters: Also John Bull’s Answer to the Three Guardians”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], Edinburgh: […] James Watson, […], →OCLC, page 21:
text: But the eldeſt daughter vvas alvvays her darling, vvho I underſtand is pretty much of her mother's ovvn caſt; and makes a very termagant vvife to a very turbulent huſband.
ref: 1761, [Frances Sheridan], “The Journal. [May 11. 1704.]”, in Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, […], volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 248:
text: "That's as muckle as till say, Bark, Bawtie, and be dune wi't!—I tell ye," raising her termagant voice, "I want my bairn! is na that braid Scots?"
ref: 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 144:
text: [Lamprocles] is introduced in Xen[ophon] Mem[orabilia] ii. 2, holding a conversation with his father [Socrates] touching his filial duty to his termagant mother [Xanthippe].
ref: 1860, W[illiam] S[eymour] Tyler, “Notes. Apologia Socratis.”, in Plato, Plato’s Apology and Crito; […], New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, note D, page 149:
text: These bishops with their termagant wives throw the book at us and say believe because I demand belief and by God I will burn or hang and quarter you if you do not.
ref: 1993 May 6, Anthony Burgess, “Part Two”, in A Dead Man in Deptford, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 161:
glosses: Of a woman, her behaviour, etc.: censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome; scolding, shrewish.