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patsy

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Patsy¹

Where it comes from

From the clipping of Patricia or Patrick + -sy (hypocoristic suffix).

proper noun Patsie

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Patricia.
  2. A diminutive of the male given name Patrick.
  3. A diminutive of the female given name Martha.

patsy²

  • /ˈpætsi/

Rhymes with -ætsi

Where it comes from

The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration.

The OED's recent revisions link Patsy with Pat and Paddy, the stereotype of the bogtrotter just off the boat.

The American Heritage Dictionary and Online Etymology Dictionary quotes the OED it may derive from the Italian pazzo (“madman”), and souther Italian dialect paccio (“fool”).

Another possibility is the term derives from Patsy Bolivar, a character in an 1880s minstrel skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong, in Broadway musical comedies, for example in The Errand Boy [1904] and Patsy in Politics [1907].

noun patsies

  1. derogatory, informal A person who is easily manipulated, victimized, or made to take the blame for something. And now it's quite obvious that instead of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney listening attentively to Mr Blair's sage advice, they've simply been using him as a patsy—a convenient fig-leaf.

    Similar: sucker

  2. A conspirator, secretly designated by co-conspirators to take full blame and punishment for a wrongdoing, particularly an assassination; a fall guy.

Similar: scapegoat, fall guy

verb patsies · patsying · patsied

  1. informal, transitive To treat (a person) as a patsy or sucker; to pin the blame on. Patsying me! Where the hell does he come off? Who ever heard of him? He can patsy the leaders in those night club dives but he can't do that here and get away with it.
  2. informal, intransitive To mess around; to waste time. I was in no mood for patsying around, and I let him have it with both barrels.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: shlemiel, sucker, soft touch, schlemiel, chump, fool, gull, fall guy, mug, fish, mark, mrs, scapegoat, sap, idiot, pigeon

noun

Similar: scapegoat, fall guy

Translations

Every language

noun a person who is taken advantage of

Españolcabeza de turco, primo, pardillo
Françaislampiste, pigeon
DeutschSündenbock, Buhmann, Prügelknabe, Naivling, Einfaltspinsel, Gelackmeierter
Italianocapro espiatorio, cornuto m pollo, fesso, zimbello
Русскийпростофиля prostofilja
עבריתפראייר frayer

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Cite this
MLA

"patsy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/patsy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

patsy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/patsy

Chicago

"patsy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/patsy.

BibTeX
@misc{patsy_2026,
  title = {patsy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/patsy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}