Wench...?

30 replies

Dummycrusher · 26/05/2022 10:19

What are people's opinions on a woman calling a woman a 'wench' as an insult?

It really doesn't sit well with me but I wondered how other people feel about it.

OP posts:

FenderStrat · 30/07/2025 17:36

Definitions
1.
archaic•humorous
a girl or young woman.
"in the new film about Columbus, she plays the token buxom wench"
2.
archaic
a prostitute.
verb
archaic
(of a man) habitually associate with prostitutes._

Butchyrestingface · 31/07/2025 00:09

I quite like it. To me, it's so hyperbolic I struggle to see it as seriously insulting, as opposed to and ironic way to take the pee.

See also 'bidie in'.

navybeans · 03/08/2025 17:26

When ever I've encountered it its usually some bloke unsuccessfully trying to flirt with me because to them wench = sexy girl and by saying to me they think they are being masterful and dominant in a funny way and its supposed to make me all flustered and giggly. Sadly for them it's just cringe.

AlmaCogansFrockFan · 04/08/2025 10:12

This is fascinating linguistically! I live in the UK and go to a hairdresser who is Australian by birth, she addresses her customers as doll, meant obviously as an endearment.

MoneyTaIks · 06/08/2025 03:27

deydododatdodontdeydo · 26/05/2022 11:35

Well it's an archaic term for prostitute isn't it?
If a woman is calling another woman it as an insult, it's similar to calling her a whore.
I don't think it's meant to sit well, it's meant to be an insult.

I've not heard it used as a word for a prostitute. Only as 'buxom wench' which is maybe where the sexual connotation came from.

I'm sure it meant 'young woman' originally. There was an origin word. Something like 'wenchen' or 'wenchel'.

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