sooterkin

English

Etymology

From dialectal Dutch zoeterke(n) (“sweatheart”) (compare zoetje, zoetke (“sweetheart”)), equivalent to sweet +‎ -kin or soot +‎ -kin.

Noun

sooterkin (plural sooterkins)

1. A mouse-like creature which, according to folklore, Dutch women who sit over stoves give birth to.
2. (figuratively) An abortive scheme.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     Fruits of dull heat, and sooterkins of wit.

3. (colloquial) A Dutch person. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

References

• 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Anagrams

• stinkeroo