Alternative word

[Handley_Page]

Is there an historian out there who knows what word was used in the 16th century for "pussy", please?. That puts around the time of Henry 8 and after.

 

[JohnBous]

Is there an historian out there who knows what word was used in the 16th century for "pussy", please?. That puts around the time of Henry 8 and after.

In England the most commonly used word-equivalent was 'cunny' - a word that was used widely in written works as well as on the streets (Chaucer used it frequently in Canterbury Tales). It fell out of fashion in the 18th century but returned in the Victorian era, and was only deemed vulgar as recently as the 1920s.

In written texts from the 1500s there were any number of euphemisms and alternatives, of which my personal favourite is 'velvet purse'.

 

[Oblimo]

"Cunt" is as old as fuck, dating back to the 1200s at least. It's been a vulgarity for almost as long. Looking it up in the Sex Lexis (praise be to the Internet), I recommend the softer, more charming euphemism quaint - back in Chaucer's time the word meant a many-layered mystery. And a punny way to say cunny.