Having sharp points that stick out, like the hooks on fishhooks or barbed wire. It can also describe comments that are meant to hurt or criticize sharply.
It comes from “barb,” meaning a sharp point projecting backward from a main point, from Old French “barbe,” which originally meant beard. The sense of sharp, sticking projections developed from the image of bristly hair.
A “barbed” comment is being compared to a fishhook or spiky wire—once it gets in, it’s hard and painful to pull out. The word shows how powerfully we map physical pain onto emotional language.
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