The Meaning of Bitch: What It Is and How To Use It

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

The word bitch might seem innocent if it is used in certain contexts, but this word of the day can be very offensive. 

Below, we will teach you all about how the word bitch can be used in offensive and non-offensive ways. To ensure you don’t anger or offend anyone, read on to learn about the correct usage of the word bitch. 

What Does Bitch Mean?

The pronunciation of bitch is bɪtʃ.

According to the Dictionary, the word bitch has a few different potential meanings, many of which are offensive slang terms. 

A Female Dog

First, the term bitch can refer to a female dog. In the dog breeding industry, a breeder might refer to a female canine as a bitch. 

A Lewd Woman

More often, the term bitch is used as a slang term for a lewd woman or shrew. 

This term is considered very mean and offensive. Never call someone a bitch unless you are prepared for the consequences. Never use this term in a formal or professional setting.

Complaining

The slang word bitch can also be used as a verb for complaining or moaning. 

What About Bitchin’?

Funnily enough, people sometimes use the adjective “bitchin” to describe something good. 

As a rule of thumb, try to avoid all forms of the word bitch unless you are referring clearly and specifically to a female dog. 

What Is the Etymology of Bitch?

The word bitch has been in the English language for a long time, before the year 1000! 

Originally, this term was the Middle English bicche and Old English bicce, which come from the Old Norse bikkja.

How Can You Use Bitch in a Sentence?

Below, you will find several example sentences containing the word bitch. See if you can determine which definition of the word bitch is used in each of the following sentences. 

Bitch in a Sentence: Example 1

The man said very mean things about the woman who did not want to date him. He went around town calling her a real bitch and other offensive terms.

Question: What part of speech and definition is the word bitch in the above sentence?

Answer: Bitch is a noun that means a mean woman in the above sentence.

Bitch in a Sentence: Example 2

After the difficult exam, all of the students met back at the dormitory to bitch about it.

Question: What part of speech and definition is the word bitch in the above sentence?

Answer: Bitch is a verb that means to complain in the above sentence.

Bitch in a Sentence: Example 3

The dog owner was so excited to reunite her puppy with his mom, the main bitch at the breeder. 

Question: What part of speech and definition is the word bitch in the above sentence?

Answer: Bitch is a noun that means a female dog in the above sentence.

Bitch in a Sentence: Example 4

After he cut off the drunk people at the bar, the drunkards began calling the bartender a son of a bitch and other mean things.

Question: What part of speech and definition is the word bitch in the above sentence?

Answer: Bitch is a noun that means a mean woman in the above sentence.

What Are Translations of Bitch?

Outside of the English language, people can use the word bitch to refer to a mean woman. Despite gaining knowledge from these word lists, you should still avoid calling people bitches in any language. 

  • Hindi: कुतिया
  • Turkish: orospu
  • Telugu: బిచ్
  • Malayalam: പെണ്പട്ടി
  • Ukrainian: сука
  • Swedish: tik
  • Icelandic: tík
  • Bulgarian: Кучка
  • Portuguese (Portugal): cadela
  • Urdu: کتیا
  • Catalan: gossa
  • Malay: jalang
  • Japanese: 雌犬
  • Welsh: ast
  • Slovak: mrcha
  • Marathi: कुत्री
  • Bengali: দুশ্চরিত্রা
  • Hebrew: כַּלבָּה
  • Chinese (PRC): bit子
  • Polish: suka
  • Finnish: narttu
  • German: Hündin
  • Vietnamese: chó cái
  • Kannada: ಗಡಿ
  • Danish: tæve
  • Hungarian: kurva
  • Russian: сука
  • Lithuanian: kalė
  • Italian: cagna
  • Czech: fena
  • Serbian: кучко
  • Slovenian: psica
  • Dutch: teef
  • Latvian: kuce
  • Gujarati: કૂતરી
  • Filipino: Bitch
  • Thai: ผู้หญิงเลว
  • Spanish: perra
  • Basque: txakur eme
  • Norwegian: tispe
  • Portuguese (Brazil): cadela
  • Tamil: பிச்
  • Amharic: ብሬክ
  • Romanian: căţea
  • Arabic: عاهرة
  • Chinese (Taiwan): bit子
  • Estonian: lits
  • Korean: 암캐
  • Croatian: kuja
  • Swahili: Bitch
  • Indonesian: jalang
  • Greek: σκύλα
  • French: chienne

What Are Synonyms of Bitch?

Since the word bitch is a slang term and very offensive, it is not always appropriate to use this word. 

If you are looking for a different way to say the word bitch, you can utilize this list of synonyms of bitch from Power Thesaurus. Be careful: many of these terms are also mean or offensive. Do not use offensive terms, or people might be very angry with you.

  • backbite
  • beef
  • bellyache
  • bleat
  • bowwow
  • carp
  • complain
  • crab
  • cunt
  • dog
  • gripe
  • groan
  • grouch
  • grouse
  • grumble
  • harridan
  • holler
  • hooker
  • kick
  • kvetch
  • moan
  • pooch
  • protest
  • she-devil
  • shrew
  • slut
  • squawk
  • termagant
  • tramp
  • virago
  • vixen
  • whine
  • whinge

What Are the Antonyms of Bitch?

People would love to be described as the opposite of a bitch! To learn all of the ways you could refer to someone who is very nice or saintly, you can use this list of antonyms of bitch from Power Thesaurus. 

  • angel
  • apostle
  • apotheosis
  • beatify
  • blessed
  • canonize
  • canonized
  • consecrate
  • enshrine
  • hallow
  • holy
  • holy man
  • holy person
  • ideal
  • martyr
  • model
  • nonesuch
  • nonpareil
  • nonsuch
  • paragon
  • pietist
  • sacred
  • saint
  • sainted
  • saintly

Conclusion

The word bitch has a few different definitions, most of which are offensive. 

The only non-offensive definition of the word bitch is a female dog, mainly used in the dog breeding industry. Second, the word bitch is a noun that refers to a shrewish or malicious woman. 

Third, bitch can be used as a verb to mean to complain. Finally, the term bitchin means fun or excellent. Try to avoid using the term bitch, because people can find it very offensive. 

Sources:

​​Bitch synonyms – 1 030 Words and Phrases for Bitch | Power Thesaurus 

Bitch antonyms – 667 Opposites of Bitch | Power Thesaurus 

Bitch Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com