Question:
Does a flibbertigibbet have to be female?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I don't think so........
What on earth is "flibbertigibbet"? This word(?) was used in an episode of the original Perry Mason series.
Yes, it's a word.
Flibbertigibbet, which is the current preferred spelling, means 'a chattering or flighty, silly person'.
Flibbertigibbet has been found in many forms; the earliest, from before 1450, was fleper-gebet and flypyr-gebet (both in the same text). The origin is not certain, though it is usually assumed to represent the sound of meaningless speech, common to similar expressions (babble, yadda-yadda-yadda); a word fliper is found about fifty years earlier, apparently meaning 'a frivlous person; a babbler'.
The modern form flibbertigibbet is first recorded in Shakespeare's King Lear, where it represents a name of one of the demons enumerated by Tom o' Bedlam. Shakeseare apparently was copying from a slightly earlier work, but his use of it undoubtedly popularized that form.
In its modern sense 'a flighty person', flibbertigibbet was popularized as a nickname of a character in Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth.