
[Possibly from French haridelle, gaunt woman, old horse, nag.]
Time magazine columnist Joe Klein hurled the word harridan into our top alt-clicks list with his defense of Hillary Clinton: "she is not even vaguely the left-wing harridan portrayed by the Precambrian right." He nevertheless opined in no uncertain terms that she should not run in the next presidential election.
Link: Hillary in 2008? No Way!
Posted May 9, 2005.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.
Dansk (Danish)
n. - gammel hejre, furie
Nederlands (Dutch)
afgebeuld paard, ouwe tang
Deutsch (German)
n. - zänkisches altes Weib
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μέγαιρα, στρίγκλα, γριά
Português (Portuguese)
n. - mulher (f) velha sombria
Русский (Russian)
старая карга
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gammal häxa, ragata
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
丑老太婆, 魔女, 巫婆
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 醜老太婆, 魔女, 巫婆
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 심술 궂은 노파, 마귀할멈
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 醜い老婆, 意地悪ばばあ
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) عجوز مشاكسه محبه للخصام
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - זקנה זעפנית, מכשפה
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