Dyke is slang

Slang

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

 terminology referring to a lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 or lesbianism. It originated as a derogatory label for a masculine woman, and this usage still exists. However, some attempt to use it in a manner they see as positive, or simply as a neutral synonym for lesbian. To some extent the word has been reappropriated

Reappropriation

Reappropriation is the cultural process by which a group reclaims—re-appropriates—terms or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. For example, since the early 1970s, much terminology referring to homosexuality—such as gay, queer, and faggot—has been reappropriated...

.

Origins

The origin of the term is obscure, and many theories have been proposed. The OED dates the first recorded use of dike, dyke in 1942, in Berrey and Van den Bark's American Thesaurus of Slang. In his review of a short-lived 1930 Broadway play, Robert Benchley says “[the hero]…is confronted with several engineering problems which he solves by mistake. There’s your story. Interlard it with every known crack which has been made along Broadway for the past two years (and several which haven’t, chief among them being: ‘Did you employ dikes in building the Barge Canal?’ ‘No, we just had a gang of Italians.’ This I consider top for the evening.”) and there you have “So Was Napoleon.” The term bulldyker, which dyke may be shortened from, was first appeared in 1920s novels connected with the Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...

. For example, in the 1928 novel Home to Harlem, Claude McKay

Claude McKay

Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote three novels: Home to Harlem , a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo , and Banana Bottom...

 wrote: "[Lesbians are] what we calls bulldyker in Harlem. ... I don't understan' ... a bulldyking woman." (The term is unattested in the OED.) From the context in the novel, the word was considered crude and pejorative at the time.

Several theories have been proposed for the origin of bulldyker. One is that it was an abbreviation of morphadike, a dialect variant of hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

, commonly use for homosexuals in the early twentieth century. This in turn may be related to the late 19th century slang use of dyke (meaning ditch) for the vulva

Vulva

The vulva consists of the external genital organs of the female mammal. This article deals with the vulva of the human being, although the structures are similar for other mammals....

. Bull is also a common expression for "masculine" or "aggressive" (as in "bullish"), and bulldyke implied a "masculine woman." Another theory claims bulldyker was a term used for bulls used to impregnate cows. The word "stud" was extended for sexually promiscuous men or a man successful with women. The terms "bulldyker" and "bulldagger" were also taken from their original context and used for the same purpose. A man who was a great lover was called a "bulldyker." "Bulldyking woman" and "bulldyker" became terms for women who resembled a "bulldyker," a male stud, and were assumed to perform the role.

In Another Mother Tongue, Judy Grahn

Judy Grahn

Judy Rae Grahn is an American poet. She has written many lesbian / feminist works.-Activities:Judy Grahn is a poet who writes about women's lives, including lesbian experience. She was a member of the Gay Women's Liberation Group, the first lesbian feminist collective on the west coast, founded...

 proposed the word bulldyke may have arisen from the name of the Celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic queen Boadicea, but this is implausible.

Increasing acceptance

In the late 20th and early 21st century, the term was reclaimed by many lesbians. Examples in the culture include the comic strip "Dykes to Watch out For

Dykes to Watch out For

Dykes to Watch Out For was a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit...

" and the traditional Dykes on Bikes

Dykes on Bikes

Dykes on Bikes is a loosely affiliated international network of mostly lesbian and dyke motorcycle clubs, Dykes on Bikes in Portland, and the Women’s Motorcycle Contingent in San Francisco...

 that lead pride parades.

Matters came to a head when the United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...

 denied lesbian motorcycle group Dykes on Bikes a trademark for its name, on the grounds that "dyke" was an offensive word. In 2005, after a prolonged court battle involving testimony on the word's changing role in the lesbian community, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings...

 permitted the group to register its name.

Variants

The term will sometimes have an adjective added to it, as in:

• Bulldyke or Bull dyke or Bulldiker or Bulldiger (also, earlier, Bulldagger) a butch
  Butch and femme
  Butch and femme are LGBT terms describing respectively, masculine and feminine traits, behavior, style, expression, self-perception and so on. They are often used in the lesbian, bisexual and gay subcultures...
  
   or masculine lesbian
• Baby dyke a young, immature or recently out
  Coming out
  Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
  
   lesbian. Sometimes used in a pejorative sense within the LGBT community to refer to a lesbian who attempts to appear butch unsuccessfully.
• Chapstick Dyke or "Chapstick Lesbian" Refers to lesbians between bulldyke and lipstick lesbian.
• Femme dyke a lesbian who presents in an (often stylized) traditionally feminine way.
• 'Frisco dyke a queer woman who hails from, lives in, or espouses aesthetics / ideologies congruent with those popular among dykes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Lipstick dyke variation on the pop-culture term "lipstick lesbian
  Lipstick lesbian
  Lipstick lesbian is a slang term used to describe lesbian and bisexual women who exhibit extremely feminine gender attributes, such as wearing make-up , wearing dresses or skirts and having other characteristics associated with feminine women...
  
  ". Also known as a "doily dyke."
• Trans dyke Transsexual or Transgender woman who romantically and/or sexually prefers females.
• Bear dyke a lesbian of especially large build and/or physical prowess.
• Bi-Dyke or Byke an identity used in a variety of ways, including by some bisexual women who feel more attracted to women than to men or by lesbian or dyke-identified women who acknowledge some sexual or emotional affection for men. Also used by some women who identify as being primarily attracted to genderqueer
  Genderqueer
  Genderqueer is a catch-all term for gender identities other than man and woman, thus outside of the gender binary and heteronormativity...
  
   individuals.
• Spyke-Lesbians who Specifically Prefer Dykes. New slang used in circles among the Bay Area to help identify preferences.
• Soft dyke Also referred to as "Soft Butch" this is generally used for lesbians who dress in a masculine style but retain feminine appearance (ex: longer hair, chapstick, clear nail polish, feminine shoes, etc.)
• Dyke in Denial "D.I.D." Used by lesbians to describe women who fit the stereotype of a lesbian in behavior or appearance but self-identify as bisexual, pansexual, or heterosexual. Also used as a referential identifier for a woman who is still in the process of coming out to themselves as a dyke/lesbian.

Dyke bars

A dyke bar

Gay bar

A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...

 is a term used to describe any bar or club in which lesbians often attend, but can also indicate a "tougher" establishment (in terms of the patrons or environment). As with the stand-alone word "dyke," the term is considered not only slang, but a potential slur

Sexual slur

A sexual slur is a term of disparagement used to refer to members of a given sexual minority, gender, sex, or sexual orientation in a derogatory or pejorative manner...

 when used by non-LGBT persons.

See also

• Dyke March
  Dyke March
  Dyke March is a mostly lesbian-led and inclusive gathering and protest march much like the original gay pride parades and marches. They usually occur the Friday or Saturday before LGBT pride parades and larger metropolitan areas have related events both before and after the event to further...
  
  
• Gay slang
  Gay slang
  LGBT slang, LGBT speak or gay slang is a set of slang used predominantly among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. It has been used in various languages, including English and Japanese since the early 1900s as a means by members of the LGBT community as a group to self-advertise as a...
  
  
• Queer
  Queer
  Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
  
  
• Faggot
• Terminology of homosexuality
  Terminology of homosexuality
  The terminology of homosexuality has been a contentious issue since the emergence of LGBT social movements in the mid-19th century. As with racial terms within the United States—such as negro, black, colored, and African American—the choice of terms regarding sexual orientation may imply a certain...
  
  

External links

• Etymology of dyke on the Online Etymology Dictionary