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Added 9 October 2026

vixen

/ˈvɪk.sən/ noun

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about vixen at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A malicious woman with a fierce temper.
A female fox.

Origin

Alteration of earlier fixen, from Middle English fixen, fixene, from Old English *fyxen (compare also Old English fyxe (“female fox”)), from Proto-West Germanic *fuhsini, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsinī; the voiced v- comes from the Southern dialectal forms of Middle English. Alternatively, from the Old English adjective fyxen (“of the fox”), as in the phrase fixen hȳd (“fox skin”; compare Middle English foxen fox).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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