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Origin and history of ducky

ducky(adj.)

"excellent," slang from 1897 (often ironical),perhaps from duckie as a term of endearment (by 1853). Rev. Palmer ["Folk-Etymology," 1882] finds the use of duck as a term of endearment "identical with Danish dukke, a baby or puppet (Wolff), Ger. docke, a doll or puppet, Shetland duckie, a doll or little girl ...," and thinks it probably is not a metaphoric use of the water-bird word, or related to the much earlier slang or dialectal noun meaning "a woman's breast" ["...whose pritty duckys I trust shortly to kysse," Henry VIII, c. 1536 letter to Anne Boleyn, who, contrary to historical rumor, did not have three of them], which perhaps is from dug (n.).

also from 1897

Entries linking to ducky

dug(n.)

"animal nipple," or, contemptuously, "the human female breast," originally with reference to suckling, 1520s, origin obscure, perhaps related to Swedish dagga, Danish dægge "to suckle."

duck(n.1)

waterfowl, natatorial bird of the family Anatidae, Old English duce (found only in genitive ducan) "a duck," literally "a ducker," presumed to be from Old English *ducan "to duck, dive" (see duck (v.)). Replaced Old English ened as the name for the bird, this being from PIE *aneti-, the root of the "duck" noun in most Indo-European languages.

In the domestic state the females greatly exceed in number, hence duck serves at once as the name of the female and of the race, drake being a specific term of sex. [OED]

As a term of endearment, attested from 1580s (see ducky). duck-walk, a squatting waddle done by a person, in imitation of a duck, is by 1915; duck soup, slang for "anything easily done," is by 1899. Duck's ass haircut is from 1951. Ducks-and-drakes, skipping flat stones on water, is from 1580s; the figurative sense of "throwing something away recklessly" is c. 1600.

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    Trends of ducky

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    Middle English dereling, from Old English deorling, dyrling "one who is much beloved, a favorite," double diminutive of deor "dear" (see dear (adj.)). The vowel shift from -e- to -a- (16c.) is usual for -er- followed by a consonant (see marsh). As an adjective "very dear, particu
    favorite
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    church
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    brain
    "soft, grayish mass filling the cranial cavity of a vertebrate," in the broadest sense, "organ of consciousness and the mind," Old English brægen "brain," from Proto-Germanic *bragnan (source also of Middle Low German bregen, Old Frisian and Dutch brein), a word of uncertain orig
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    late 14c., "a joining or meeting of individuals or distinct things," originally of planets or stars "meeting" in the same part of the sky, from Old French conjonction "union, joining, sexual intercourse" (12c.), from Latin coniunctionem (nominative coniunctio), noun of action fro
    necessary
    late 14c., necessarie, "needed, required; essential, indispensable; such as must be, that cannot be otherwise; not voluntary or governed by chance or free will," from Old French necessaire "necessary, urgent, compelling" (13c.), and directly from Latin necessarius "unavoidable, i

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