Variant of obsolete fist, short for fisting dog, from Middle English fisting, a blowing, breaking wind, from Old English fsting. See pezd- in Appendix I.
REGIONAL NOTE:
Feist, also fice, is one of several regional terms for a small mixed-breed dog. Used throughout the Midland and Southern states, feist connotes a snappy, nervous, belligerent little dog—hence the derived adjective feisty, meaning “touchy, quarrelsome, or spirited,” applicable to animals and to people. Although feist remains a regional word, feisty has now entered standard usage throughout the United States.
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