One of the first cited uses of tetchy occurs in William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (1596). Etymologists are not certain how the word came about, but some have suggested that it derives from tetch, an obsolete noun meaning "habit." The similarity both in meaning and pronunciation to touchy might lead you to conclude that tetchy is related to that word, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest such a connection. The adjectives teched and tetched, meaning "mentally unbalanced," are variations of touched, and are probably also unrelated to tetchy.
Recent Examples on the WebDuring Wednesday’s tetchy question-and-answer session in Parliament, few Conservative lawmakers said Mr. Johnson should be fired. Max Colchester, WSJ, 25 May 2022 Diagnosis can be a tetchy subject in neurodiversity. Nancy Doyle, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022 For all the tetchy lockdown sparring in between these scenes, there’s finally something to be said for togetherness. Guy Lodge, Variety, 14 Oct. 2021 No wonder Biden is tetchy when asked about the subject.Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2021 The travel show in which a tetchy British comedian joins celebrities on jaunts to various international locales? Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2020 But pursuing less tetchy relations with China, the policy of the KMT for decades, is becoming ever less marketable.The Economist, 13 June 2020 Some of the friction — never mind the crises at hand — may also stem from tetchy personal relations.Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2020 In 2017, parts of Silver Springs State Park had to be shut down because the monkeys were getting tetchy about human visitors. Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2020 See More