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Definition of footsie

footsie

/ˈfʊt.si/
foot · sie

Plural:footsies
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footsie Lexical Profile

footsie Game Scores & Validity

• noun

1

Amorous or playful touching of someone's feet with one's own, typically done secretly under a table as a form of flirting.

Example

"The couple spent half of the dinner party secretly playing footsie under the tablecloth."


2

Clandestine, overly friendly, or cooperative dealings, especially between political or business rivals (usually in the phrase "play footsie").

Example

"Critics accused the administration of playing footsie with industry lobbyists while drafting the new environmental regulations."


3

A low-cut slipper or short sock that covers only the foot without extending up the ankle (usually used in the plural).

Example

"She slipped on a pair of warm fleece footsies to walk across the cold tile floor."

Synonyms
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• Rhymes for footsie

Word Origin & Etymology

Coined in the 1940s in American English as a playful diminutive of "foot" with the colloquial suffix "-sie" (originally used in children's talk for a foot). The British financial sense, often capitalized as "Footsie," emerged in the 1980s as a phonetic rendering of the acronym FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange).

Cite this Entry


Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Footsie. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/footsie
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