Origin of gunsel
origin, originally , boy (with implication of perversion), probably from Yiddish gendzl, gosling from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of gans, goose a catamiteOrigin of gunsel
infl. by gun gunman (sense )
gunsel
gun·selWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"gunsel." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel>.
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gunsel. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel
gunsel
noun
SlangA hoodlum or other criminal, especially one who carries a gun.
Origin of gunsel
Alteration (influenced by gun ) of earlier gonsil, guntzel naïve youth, hobo's younger male lover, punk from Yiddish gendzl gosling diminutive of gandz goose from Middle High German gans from Old High German; see ghans- in Indo-European roots.THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"gunsel." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel>.
APA Style
gunsel. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel
Noun
(plural gunsels)
- A young man kept for homosexual purposes; a catamite.
- (street and prison slang) A passive partner in anal intercourse.
Origin
From Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”).
Origin
By misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (which survived in a popular 1941 film adaptation). The novel was originally serialized in a magazine, Black Mask, whose editor refused to allow vulgarities. Hammett used the word gunsel knowing that the editor would likely misunderstand it as relating to gun, and therefore allow it.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"gunsel." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel>.
APA Style
gunsel. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/gunsel
