Meanings
plural flibbertigibbets
- An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman.
All this responsibility at such an early age made her a bitchy flibbertigibbet.
1969, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., chapter 2 (pages 19–42), in Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-dance with Death, Vintage edition (1991 paperback), London: Vintage Books, published 2000, →ISBN, page 23 - A flighty person; someone regarded as silly, irresponsible, or scatterbrained, especially someone who chatters or gossips.
‘Ignorant girls. Dizzy young things. It seems to be my fate always to be landed with these flibbertigibbets.’
2009, Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, page 1711 more example
“Thou flibbertigibbet,” cried Catwezle, who had been listening, “all is clear as springwater. This Rapkyn was a sorcerer!”
1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 50
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Norse*fleipra-geipa(re)“babbler of nonsense”
- Middle English[Term?]
- Englishflibbertigibbet
From late Middle English [Term?] first attested 1549 probably imitative of nonsense uttered by gossips. Usage as an imp or fiend and name of the Devil from around 1603. Alternatively (but far less likely), an alteration of flibbergib (“toady, sycophant”), derived potentially from an Old Norse *fleipra-geipa(re) (“babbler of nonsense”). The hypothetical Old Norse term would have been a compound of fleipra (a variant of fleipa (“to babble, tattle”)), and geipa (“to talk nonsense, to boast”) or geipare (“one who speaks nonsense, braggart”). fleipa is notably the ancestor to the flip- part of the English word flippant. It is of note that the original meaning of flibbergib was “chatterer”.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch fratsenmaker, wispelturig iemand, duiveltje, deugniet
- fratsenmaker, wispelturig iemandoffbeat, skittish person
- duiveltje, deugnietoffbeat, skittish person
- roddelaaroffbeat, skittish person
French écervelé, écervelée
- écerveléoffbeat, skittish person
- écerveléeoffbeat, skittish person
- tête de linotteoffbeat, skittish person
German Flattergeist
- Flattergeistoffbeat, skittish person
Polish trzpiotka, gaduła
- trzpiotkaoffbeat, skittish person
- gadułaoffbeat, skittish person
Cite this entry
flibbertigibbet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flibbertigibbet
“flibbertigibbet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flibbertigibbet. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flibbertigibbet,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flibbertigibbet.
Source: flibbertigibbet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.