“bimbo: [E20th] Bimbos in English are young women, but in Italian a bimbo is a baby, and in English bimbo was originally an American slang term for a fellow or chap, especially a foolish one. In 1947 P.G. Wodehouse wrote of ‘Bimbos who went about the place making passes at innocent girls after discarding their wives.’ This meaning is first recorded in 1918, and by the 1920s the modern sense was being used. In the 1980s the word himbo was coined to mean ‘a male bimbo.’ At the same time bimbette was coined for a younger bimbo. Compare BABE.’
Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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