Meanings
plural harridans
- A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
Well there was one old lady, and a drunken old harridan she was surely, that paid all her attention to me.
1916, James Joyce, chapter I, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 371 more example
Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 13, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLCSynonyms: battle axe, bitch, brim, brimstone, cat, cockatrice, crow, dragon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
Origin
- Frenchharidelle“old horse, nag”
- Englishharridan
Perhaps a modification of French haridelle (“old horse, nag”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian зла старица, вещица
- зла старица (zla starica)vicious and scolding woman
- вещица (veštica)vicious and scolding woman
Chinese Mandarin 老太婆, 老潑婦 /老泼妇
- 老太婆 (lǎotàipó)vicious and scolding woman
- 老潑婦 /老泼妇 (lǎopōfù)vicious and scolding woman
Dutch viswijf, harpij
- viswijfvicious and scolding woman
- harpijvicious and scolding woman
- helleveegvicious and scolding woman
Finnish äkäpussi
- äkäpussivicious and scolding woman
French harpie, dragon
- harpievicious and scolding woman
- dragonvicious and scolding woman
- viragovicious and scolding woman
- haridellevicious and scolding woman
- mégèrevicious and scolding woman
- xanthippevicious and scolding woman
- casse-couillesvicious and scolding woman
German Drache (alter Drachen m), Xanthippe
- Drache (alter Drachen m)vicious and scolding woman
- Xanthippevicious and scolding woman
- Hexevicious and scolding woman
- Vettelvicious and scolding woman
Hungarian banya
- banyavicious and scolding woman
Italian arpìa
- arpìavicious and scolding woman
Japanese 鬼女, 鬼婆
- 鬼女 (gijo)vicious and scolding woman
- 鬼婆 (onibaba)vicious and scolding woman
- 悪婆 (akuba)vicious and scolding woman
Polish jędza, wiedźma
- jędzavicious and scolding woman
- wiedźmavicious and scolding woman
- sekutnicavicious and scolding woman
Russian ве́дьма, карга́
- ве́дьма (védʹma)vicious and scolding woman
- карга́ (kargá)vicious and scolding woman
- мы́мра (mýmra)vicious and scolding woman
- гры́мза (grýmza)vicious and scolding woman
- меге́ра (megéra)vicious and scolding woman
Spanish vieja gruñona, arpía
- vieja gruñonavicious and scolding woman
- arpíavicious and scolding woman
Swedish surtant, argbigga
- surtantvicious and scolding woman
- argbiggavicious and scolding woman
- huskorsvicious and scolding woman
- satkärringvicious and scolding woman
- morrhoppavicious and scolding woman
- ragatavicious and scolding woman
- rivjärnvicious and scolding woman
Cite this entry
harridan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harridan
“harridan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harridan. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “harridan,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harridan.
Source: harridan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.