Variant of earlierarsehole, fromMiddle Englisharshole,arcehoole, equivalent toass +hole. Cognate withNorwegianrasshøl(“asshole”),Swedisharsle(“asshole”). Compare alsoGermanArschloch(“asshole”). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlierOld Englishearsþyrel(“anus”, literally“ass hole”).First recorded in Middle English, asers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED),ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker asLanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.) Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compareshithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It is also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales,1957).
Asshole is an American English form; the corresponding British English form isarsehole.
As a pejorative for persons, this term is less vulgar and intense thanfucker orcunt. While not intrinsically gender-specific, it is primarily applied to men; gender-specific pejoratives such asbitch are often used for women. Speakers sometimes applyasshole to a woman when they wish to vulgarly disparage her without draggingmisogyny into the equation.
John Jamieson,An etymological dictionary of the Scottish language: in which the words are explained in their different senses, authorized by the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and deduced from their originals, 1818
