-pants

pants English Etymology Extracted from en fancypants. Suffix en informal usually pejorative Used with adjectives ending in -y to form nicknames based on a negative quality of a person. en 1986 Babette Cole Princess Smartypants Hamish Hamilton 0-241-11885-9 [book title] 1999, Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach: A Novel, Abacus, (cited from Houghton Mifflin/Mariner Books, 2002, 978-0-618-21905-6), p. 91: We used to call her Miss Bossy Pants when she was a kid. en 2005 Lauren Myracle Rhyme with Witches Amulet Books 978-0-8109-9215-3 21 You had to pull one of your stupid disappearing tricks because you were being a pouty-pants. 2012, April 21, Meghan McCarthy, "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1" [television episode], My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Gee, maybe her name should be "Princess Demandy Pants". bossypants, fancypants, smarty pants, greedy-pants, pouty pants en The Atlantic 2025-04-20 Felicia Schwartz Nahal Toosi Robbie Gramer ‘Bonkers crazypants’: American diplomats shaken by reports of possible cuts https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/20/bonkers-crazypants-american-diplomats-state-department-00300029 Diplomats sharing the draft with each other said they were puzzled by the logic undergirding it. One U.S. diplomat described the draft to POLITICO as “bonkers crazypants.” https://web.archive.org/web/20251225093731/https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/20/bonkers-crazypants-american-diplomats-state-department-00300029 25 December 2025 Usage notes Usually the adjective must be two syllables long and end in en -y, potentially with an interfix if the original adjective ends in a different sound. As with en fancypants, usage has not yet settled as to whether this should be separate, linked with a hyphen as a suffixoid, or fused like a normal affix. Derived terms en Anagrams en anpst NAPTs snapt