sissy

   A term of abuse for an effeminate man, deriving from ‘sister’. In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers, it is said by one boy to another because the latter has expressed a wish to have a fancy costume. In Diamonds are Forever McGonigle ill-advisedly says to James Bond: ‘Come on, sissy.’ A similar challenge occurs in The Choirboys, by Joseph Wambaugh, where a man says to a policeman: ‘C’mon and fight, you big sissy.’ Later in the same novel a policeman says to a man: ‘You fag! You insolent fucking sissy!’ The man concerned has made homosexual advances to him. ‘Sissy’ is also used as a playground taunt to boys who cry too easily. See also Cry-baby.