A person who is gentle, kind, or emotionally sensitive; someone who is not tough or harsh.
From 'soft' + the diminutive/informal suffix '-ie.' Emerged in British English around 1900, originally somewhat derogatory but now more affectionate or neutral.
Calling someone a 'softie' reveals how masculinity was (and is) coded as 'hard'—the suffix '-ie' makes it both diminutive and affectionate, showing British English's genius for gentle insults that aren't really insults.
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