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Percy.

An English surname from Old French.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈpɜːsi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɜɹsi/General-American
  1. An English surname from Old French.

  2. A male given name transferred from the surname or from a clipping of Percival, of Middle Ages and later usage.

  3. A place name: A commune in Isère department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.

  4. A place name: A village in Manche department, Normandy, France.

  5. A place name: A township in Kittson County, Minnesota, United States.

  6. A place name: An unincorporated community in Washington County, Mississippi, United States.

  7. A place name: A village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States.

Where this word comes from

Proper noun senses 1 (surname) and 3 (place names) are derived from Norman Percy (“a baronial surname”), from Percy-en-Auge (“a place in Pays d’Auge, Normandy, France”, literally “Percy in Auge”), from Old French Perci, from Late Latin Persiacum, from Latin Persius (“a Gallo-Roman nomen gentile”), from Etruscan 𐌐𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (persu); further etymology uncertain, possibly from 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). Proper noun sense 2 (given name) is either from the above, or is a clipping of Perc(ival) + -y (suffix forming familiar names). The common noun is derived from the proper noun. Sense 2 (“penis”) is probably from the fact that Percy and penis begin with the same letter.

noun/ˈpɜːsi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɜɹsi/General-American
  1. A male person regarded as unmanly or weak; a sissy.

    also · attributive · derogatory · slang
  2. A male conscientious objector.

    also · attributive · derogatory · historical · slang
  3. An educated soldier; specifically, an officer.

    also · attributive · derogatory · slang
  4. Chiefly in point Percy at the porcelain: the penis.

    Australia · UK · humorous · slang
Where this word comes from

Proper noun senses 1 (surname) and 3 (place names) are derived from Norman Percy (“a baronial surname”), from Percy-en-Auge (“a place in Pays d’Auge, Normandy, France”, literally “Percy in Auge”), from Old French Perci, from Late Latin Persiacum, from Latin Persius (“a Gallo-Roman nomen gentile”), from Etruscan 𐌐𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (persu); further etymology uncertain, possibly from 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). Proper noun sense 2 (given name) is either from the above, or is a clipping of Perc(ival) + -y (suffix forming familiar names). The common noun is derived from the proper noun. Sense 2 (“penis”) is probably from the fact that Percy and penis begin with the same letter.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.