harridan means A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
HARRIDAN — [Noun] A vicious, scolding, and often older woman. Perhaps from the French haridelle, meaning “old horse, nag,” applied figuratively to a gaunt or worn-out woman. Unlike a termagant, which evokes a turbulent, pagan violence, or a shrew, which suggests a sharp-tongued but domestic temper, a harridan is defined by her exhausted abrasion—the specific, weaponized bitterness that is the final distillate of profound disappointment. She is the silhouette in a tenement window, her voice a rusty hinge; the relentless, percussive click of heels on a linoleum floor; the figure in the market whose eyes have narrowed to assess the exact degree of rot in every piece of fruit. Hers is a monument to bitterness erected from the ruins of softer years.
noun
- A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.“Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?”