biggity

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Apparently from big +‎ -ed +‎ -y, a compound suffix used to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”; 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

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Adjective

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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, published 2016, page 15:
      “Aint you talking biggity. I bet you better not let your grandmammy hear you talking like that.”

Synonyms

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References

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