tetchier; tetchiest
: irritably or peevishly sensitive : touchy
the tetchy manner of two women living in the same houseElizabeth Taylor †1975
tetchily adverb
tetchiness noun

Did you know?

One of the first cited uses of tetchy occurs in William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (1596). Etymologists are not certain how the word came about, but some have suggested that it derives from tetch, an obsolete noun meaning "habit." The similarity both in meaning and pronunciation to touchy might lead you to conclude that tetchy is related to that word, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest such a connection. The adjectives teched and tetched, meaning "mentally unbalanced," are variations of touched, and are probably also unrelated to tetchy.

Examples of tetchy in a Sentence

a morose and tetchy resident of a nursing home
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Hallmarks of the best Halloween travel destinations usually entail a moody fall landscape, local legends that involve a tetchy ghost, vampire, or other variety of ominous being, and themed activities like pumpkin patches and cemetery tours. Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2025 Reynolds is a tetchy tyrant, who, enabled by his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), has embraced a need to have things just so as a means of warding off vulnerability. Alison Willmore, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025 Or the public’s general distaste for being confronted with tetchy societal issues will still prevail; doom-scrolling should be done on one’s phone at home, not out in the world among other people. Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2025 The venerable brand has, for well over a century, been a producer of debonair, distinctly British, sport/luxury cars, known mainly for startling good looks and an attitude that is more sophisticated and less tetchy than its Italian rivals. Brett Berk, Robb Report, 3 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tetchy

Word History

Etymology

perhaps from obsolete tetch habit

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tetchy was in 1596

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Cite this Entry

“Tetchy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tetchy. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.

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