Brady Takes Umbrage with 'Pissant' Comment
Pissant had a sudden surge in lookups, rising 115,000% on January 29th, 2018 after New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ended an interview, upon taking umbrage with the host using this term in reference to Brady’s young daughter.
In discussing his Tom vs. Time documentary, WEEI radio personality Alex Reimer said that Brady’s daughter was “an annoying little pissant” earlier in the week.
— Harry Lyles Jr., SBNation (sbnation.com), 29 Jan. 2018
The word, generally considered to be vulgar, is formed exactly as one might imagine, by blending the urinary sense of piss and the formicine sense of ant.
Although there is a dialectical sense of the word, meaning "ant," this meaning is little used today. The more common sense in modern parlance is "an insignificant person or thing — used as a generalized term of abuse." This sense dates to the beginning of the 20th century.
Again facing the reporter he shouted in his excited condition “You’d a d— little pissant!”
— Amador Weekly Ledger (Jackson, CA), 23 Sept. 1910
