Nancy

English, 18th century

Miss Nancy

Derogatory epithet for an excessively finicky or effeminate man.

English, early 20th century

Nancy

Used adjectivally in prison slang for an effeminate man; attested by 1904.

English, 1924

nance

Shortened slang noun for an effeminate man, especially one occupying a passive homosexual role.

Nahuatl nanci

Classical Nahuatl

nanci

Name of the tropical American fruit and its tree.

American Spanish

nance

Borrowed plant and fruit name.

English, modern

nance

Common name for Byrsonima crassifolia, also called craboo or hogberry.

Modern English

nance

Word Ancestry

Nancy

English, 18th century

Miss Nancy

Derogatory epithet for an excessively finicky or effeminate man.

English, early 20th century

Nancy

Used adjectivally in prison slang for an effeminate man; attested by 1904.

English, 1924

nance

Shortened slang noun for an effeminate man, especially one occupying a passive homosexual role.

Nahuatl nanci

Classical Nahuatl

nanci

Name of the tropical American fruit and its tree.

American Spanish

nance

Borrowed plant and fruit name.

English, modern

nance

Common name for Byrsonima crassifolia, also called craboo or hogberry.

Modern English

nance

“

One form of “nance” began life not as a botanical label but as a person’s name: Nancy. By 1824, “Miss Nancy” was a sneering nickname for a fussy, overly delicate man, and later prison slang trimmed it down to the one-syllable “nance.” The story may reach back to Anna Oldfield, a famously vain actress who died in 1730 and was buried in Westminster Abbey after specifying an elaborate lace-and-gloves display for her own funeral; however, that proposed origin is not certain. The second “nance” has nothing to do with gender or slang: it arrived through American Spanish from Classical Nahuatl and names the golden fruit of Byrsonima crassifolia, eaten across tropical America. So one tiny word can point either to a Victorian insult or to a sweet fruit—and context is doing all the work.

The Story

“

One form of “nance” began life not as a botanical label but as a person’s name: Nancy. By 1824, “Miss Nancy” was a sneering nickname for a fussy, overly delicate man, and later prison slang trimmed it down to the one-syllable “nance.” The story may reach back to Anna Oldfield, a famously vain actress who died in 1730 and was buried in Westminster Abbey after specifying an elaborate lace-and-gloves display for her own funeral; however, that proposed origin is not certain. The second “nance” has nothing to do with gender or slang: it arrived through American Spanish from Classical Nahuatl and names the golden fruit of Byrsonima crassifolia, eaten across tropical America. So one tiny word can point either to a Victorian insult or to a sweet fruit—and context is doing all the work.