batty
Jamaican Patois word for the buttocks, derived from "bottom" via the same softening that produced "bumbo" and "bumbaclart".
Definitions
Jamaican Patois word for the buttocks, derived from "bottom" via the same softening that produced "bumbo" and "bumbaclart". Used straightforwardly in many Caribbean contexts to mean the backside ("batty riders" = very short shorts; "batty wash" = washing one's rear). The word is heavily marked, however, by its appearance in the homophobic compound "batty boy" (or "batty bwoy"), a slur for a gay man that was a recurrent feature of certain hardcore dancehall lyrics in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s and has been widely condemned by LGBTQ groups and platforms. Because of that history, "batty" used about a person — especially in compounds — should be approached with caution: in some Caribbean contexts it remains an everyday body word, in others (especially diaspora and online) it lands as a slur trigger.
her routine had nuff batty-shaking choreography for the music video
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🗺️About Regional & Other slang
Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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Other words near "batty" (B)
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Related terms
Semantically related
- batty boy83%
(Jamaican English, Caribbean, UK, Canada, _, derogatory, _, slang) A homosexual man.
- batty man82%
(Jamaican English, and, Caribbean, _, derogatory, _, slang) A homosexual man.
- batty rider76%
(Jamaica, US, Canada, British) extremely short shorts worn by women, so as to expose part of the buttocks.
- bombaclat73%
A strong Jamaican Patois expletive, also spelled bumboclaat, bombaclart or bumbaclart. Etymologically it combines "bumbo" (an old Patois word for the buttocks or vulva) with "claat" (cloth) — literally referring to a sanitary or menstrual cloth — making it one of the so-called "claat" curses (alongside bloodclaat and rasclaat) that form the strongest tier of Patois profanity. Used as an exclamation of anger, shock or disgust, as an intensifier ("bombaclat liar"), or as a personal insult. Considered seriously offensive in Jamaica and across the Caribbean diaspora and treated as comparable to the strongest English-language curses; many older speakers and religious communities find it deeply taboo. In recent years it has also been spread without that weight as a meme reaction on Twitter and TikTok, a usage that many Caribbean people view as disrespectful appropriation.
- panty man68%
A Caribbean derogatory term for a gay man. The insult draws on the association of women's underwear with femininity, implying a man who transgresses masculine norms. Considered highly offensive; primarily documented in Caribbean English, especially in Jamaican and Trinidadian usage. Not reclaimed in mainstream discourse.