f 4 e 1 i 1 s 1 t 1
5 letters · 8 points in Scrabble
Meaning
noun a nervous belligerent little mongrel dog
originEarliest sense is “fart”, and later “stink” as abbreviation for fysting cur “stinking dog” (1520s). From Middle English fysten (mid-15th century), from Old English. Cognate with Middle Dutch veest and Dutch vijst. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *fistiz (“a fart”), presumably from Proto-Indo-European *pesd-, though this is disputed. One explanation for the association of farting with small dogs is…
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0