Twat is an English-language vulgarism which means the vulva or vagina, and is used figuratively as a derogatory epithet.[1][2][3] In British English, and Irish English it is a common insult referring to an obnoxious or stupid person regardless of gender;[1][3] in American English, it is rarer and usually used to insult a woman.[1][2][4] In Britain and Ireland, the usual pronunciation rhymes with "hat", while Americans most often use the older pronunciation that rhymes with "squat". This is reflected in the former variant spelling of "twot".[5]
The literal sense is first attested in 1656, the epithet in the 1930s.[5] The word's etymology is uncertain. The American Heritage Dictionary suggests a conjectural Old English word "thwāt", meaning "a cut", cognate with the Old Norse "þveit" ("thveit").[4] Jonathon Green suggests a connection with "twitchel", a dialect term for a narrow passage.[5] The twentieth-century British slang verb twat, meaning 'to hit, whack', is probably an unrelated homonym of onomatopoeic origin.[1][6]