Tetchy

//ˈtɛt͡ʃi// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work. Commonwealth, Ireland, Southern-US, UK

    "Nurce: ...But as I said, when it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter, pretty foole to see it teachie and fall out with Dugge..."

Adjective
  1. 1
    easily irritated or annoyed wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
allergicanaphylacticbiliouscantankerouscholericcrabbit

Example

More examples

"But she soon grew weary of that occupation; she became careless in her reports, impatient and tetchy when reprimanded for her negligence."

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.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.