backfisch

See also: Backfisch

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Backfisch (“teenage girl”, literally “fish for baking”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbækfɪʃ/

Noun

backfisch (plural backfisch or backfische or backfisches)

1. A teenage or late-adolescent girl.
   • 1919, Katherine Mansfield, “Friendship”, in J. Middleton Murry, editor, The Scrapbook of Katherine Mansfield, published 1940:

     When we were charming Backfisch / With curls and velvet bows / We shared a charming kitten / With tiny velvet toes.

   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 115:

     I knew, of course, it was but an innocent game on her part, a bit of backfisch foolery in imitation of some simulacrum of fake romance, […]

Translations

teenage girl

Dutch: bakvis (nl) German: Backfisch (de) Hungarian: bakfis (hu) Russian: девочка-подросток f (devočka-podrostok) Swedish: backfisch (sv) c

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Backfisch, used in Swedish in the first two-thirds of the 20th century, but removed from more recent editions of SAOL.

Noun

backfisch c

1. (dated) a backfisch

Declension

Declension of backfisch

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	backfisch	backfischs
	definite	backfischen	backfischens
plural	indefinite	backfischar	backfischars
	definite	backfischarna	backfischarnas

Synonyms

• flicksnärta

Related terms

• backfischfasoner
• backfischåldern

References

• backfisch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (8th ed., 1923)
• backfisch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (9th ed., 5th printing, 1954)
• backfisch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (10th ed., 1st printing, 1973)