Frontiersmen were never afraid of poetry. It was Big Business with its fear of femininity, it was the eunuchoid clergy capitulating to vulgar masculinity that made religion and art sissy things. 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 26:
[…] she’d decided the wrapping paper was too feminine. It had a viney pattern that wasn’t anything sissier than you’d see in the old Arabian Nights illustrations. But Richard might think they were flowers. 2000, Jeffery Deaver, Manhattan Is My Beat, revised edition, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 173:
(colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) An effeminate boy or man.
(colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) A timid, unassertive or cowardly person.
This was all part of football and if any man was such a sissy he could not stand it, then he had better seek the sidelines. 1963, Robert Smith, Pro Football: The History of the Game and the Great Players, page 144:
A male crossdresser who adopts feminine behaviours.
I realised I still held my normal male clothes and dropped them to the floor under the desk, out of the way. […] Would it hurt? Yes, I knew it would from watching videos of sissies being spanked by their dominant mistresses. 2018, Paul Zante, Sissy Dreams: Motel Sissy, page 4:
(colloquial, dated) Sister; often used as a term of address
"I so glad - so glad the wicked thing not hurt my sissy!" and in that moment of thankful joy the two children embraced each other with fond affection. 1862, Charlotte Maria Tucker, Christian conquests, by A.L.O.E., page 61:
Her seven-year-old brother Justin sat on my lap beside her casket. I explained to him why we were staying with his sissy. He wouldn't leave; he stayed, too. He kissed her, touched her hand, told her he would miss her. 2008, Rita T. Kohn, William Lynwood Montell, Always a People: Oral Histories of Contemporary Woodland Indians:
it femminuccia (an effeminate boy or man) · fi nynny (an effeminate boy or man) · fi mammanpoika (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ru не́женка (an effeminate boy or man) · it codardo (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ceb bayoti (an effeminate boy or man) · pt bicha (an effeminate boy or man) · sv mes (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fi nynny (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · hy ղզօղլան (an effeminate boy or man) · ru слаба́к (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pa ਜ਼ਨਾਨਡ਼ਾ (an effeminate boy or man) · pl pipka (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · de Jammerlappen (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it smidollato (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it pappamolle (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fi nössö (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl cipka (an effeminate boy or man) · it mammoletta (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · gl amullerado (an effeminate boy or man) · fr poule mouillée (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ca marieta (an effeminate boy or man) · ru труси́шка (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it fifone (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fr chochotte (an effeminate boy or man) · ru ссыку́н (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pt maricas (an effeminate boy or man) · fr chochotte (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fr fifi (an effeminate boy or man) · it pusillanime (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · mk женско петле (an effeminate boy or man) · yue 乸型 (an effeminate boy or man) · it merlo (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · gl efeminado (an effeminate boy or man) · it pisciasotto (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it pollo (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it debole (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ja いくじなし (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl pipka (an effeminate boy or man) · it coniglio (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · es afeminado (an effeminate boy or man) · cmn 膽小鬼 /胆小鬼 (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl cipa (an effeminate boy or man) · it cacasotto (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it mollusco (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · nv ashkii tsaʼii (an effeminate boy or man) · gl maricas (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · da svækling (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ar مخنَّث (an effeminate boy or man) · pl cipka (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl pipa (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · cmn 娘娘腔 (an effeminate boy or man) · cmn 女人氣的 /女人气的 (an effeminate boy or man) · fr gonzesse (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · cmn 懦夫 (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fi nyhverö (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · gl marica (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · de Weichling (an effeminate boy or man) · ja 弱虫 (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it vile (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · nl mietje (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl cipa (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · no Pyse (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it pauroso (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it rammollito (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · sv fjolla (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · pl pipa (an effeminate boy or man) · cmn 女人般的 (an effeminate boy or man) · pt boiola (an effeminate boy or man) · gl efeminado (an effeminate boy or man) · ceb bayoti (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ru ба́ба (an effeminate boy or man) · it eunuco (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · ja シスターボーイ (an effeminate boy or man) · ru хлю́пик (an effeminate boy or man) · gl marica (an effeminate boy or man) · gl maricas (an effeminate boy or man) · fi hintti (an effeminate boy or man) · es calzonazos (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · fr lopette (an effeminate boy or man) · it femminuccia (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · da skvat (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · it vigliacco (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · nl mietje (an effeminate boy or man) · ru трус (a timid, unassertive or cowardly person) · hy ղզիկ (an effeminate boy or man) · bg мамино детенце (an effeminate boy or man) · sv fjolla (an effeminate boy or man)
Likely onomatopoetic, perhaps related to French pipi (“urine”). Compare piss; wee-wee.
Meanings
(childish, colloquial) To urinate.
Joan recognized her as the girl whose son had sissied on her pants. She was still dabbing at her pantleg with a damp paper towel. 1979, Rhea Kohan, Save Me a Seat, →ISBN, page 25: