bad cess
English
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
bad cess
Where it comes from
Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction.
noun
- Bad luck, failure, or evil befalling. ...and so says the king to himself, "the divil receave the dhrop of that wine they shall get," says he, "... bad cess to the dhrop," says he, "my big-bellied bishop, to nourish your jolly red nose..."
Talk about this word "bad cess." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bad%20cess. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bad cess. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bad%20cess "bad cess." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bad%20cess.Cite this
@misc{bad_cess_2026,
title = {bad cess},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bad%20cess},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
