the.com/hag
A cruel label for older women, reflecting fear and disrespect toward aging rather than reality.
means An ugly, frightening, or malicious old woman — a word used to shame women for aging in public.
from From Old English 'hægtesse,' meaning witch or fury, related to Old High German 'hagazussa.' The deeper root may connect to words for 'hedge' or 'fence' — possibly painting the hag as a boundary-dweller, a creature who haunts the hedgerow between the human world and something wilder. By the medieval period the word had narrowed to mean witch, then softened (if you can call it that) into a slur for any woman who dared grow old without apologizing for it.
- origin
- from old english haegtesse, meaning hedge-rider, a witch
- irony
- once meant wise woman before it got demoted
- reclamation
- some feminists now wear it proudly, fangs out