fussy baby
1
2.9
- noun
- /ˈfʌsi ˈbeɪbi/
:
bebé quisquilloso
- You know, I remember when my sons were babies; both of them were fussy babies.
- soothe a fussy baby
Examples
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Apparently, I was a fussy baby, and the only way to calm me down was to take me outside and watch the birds.
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In the early days, a fussy baby is usually a hungry baby.
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On one side: a mother with a fussy baby who needed to be fed right then and there.
Blog text (13) -
Fussy baby.
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As a stay-at-home mom (I prefer to use the term 'flexible schedule'), I usually have between 30 and 60 minutes to make dinner, but that includes the kids running around, a fussy baby, etc.
Blog text (4) -
He was a super fussy baby, impossible to put down—and we were both exhausted.
Blog text (2) -
For a long time, it just didn't seem worth it to go out and overpay for a meal while managing a fussy baby and getting mean glances from patrons who don't like me breastfeeding in public.
Blog text (24) -
You know, I remember when my sons were babies; both of them were fussy babies.
Synonyms
41
3.7
A person who cries or complains too easily
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'fussy' (inclined to be irritable or hard to soothe) modifies 'baby' (an infant), so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer an infant who is difficult to calm. This adjective + noun pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so the meaning is predictable from its constituents.
Etymology
Fussy baby comes from the word 'fuss', which means a small noisy complaint. Imagine a baby who makes a loud 'fuss' and cries a lot. The word fussy shows this, so Fussy baby means 'an infant who is difficult to calm'.