the.com/weakling
The gym's favorite insult, invented by people who skip leg day too.
means A person who is physically weak or lacking in strength, vigor, or resolve.
from Simple carpentry: take the adjective 'weak' (from Old Norse 'veikr,' meaning pliant or soft, related to the verb 'to bend') and bolt on the suffix '-ling,' which marks a diminutive — something small or lesser, as in 'duckling' or 'underling.' So a weakling is literally 'a small, lesser instance of weak,' built the same way English has been manufacturing belittling nouns for centuries.
- origin
- weak plus diminutive suffix ling, like duckling but sadder
- first recorded
- 16th century, Shakespeare era insult of choice
- irony
- often hurled by people incapable of a pushup
- usage shift
- now mostly used sarcastically among friends lifting weights