biggity

biggity

English

Alternative forms

• biggety

Etymology

Apparently from big +‎ -y, a suffix used to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, with an arbitrary middle syllable; compare uppity. Alternately, perhaps from big +‎ -ety, a suffix used to extend monosyllabic words; compare hot diggety, hippity-hop. Attested in the Southern United States since the late nineteenth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪɡɪti/

• Audio (UK)

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Adjective

biggity (comparative more biggity, superlative most biggity)

1. (US, African-American Vernacular) Conceited, uppity.
   • 1883, Mark Twain, chapter 58, in Life on the Mississippi:

     [T]he captains were very independent and airy—pretty ‘biggity,’ as Uncle Remus would say.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 33, in The House Behind The Cedars:

     "Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows 'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' niggers—talks lack he own de whole county."

   • 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Folio Society 2016, p. 15:

     “Aint you talking biggity. I bet you better not let your grandmammy hear you talking like that.”

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:arrogant

References

• biggity at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “biggity, adj. (and adv.).”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2008.