Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a Frenchman, a person of French descent, a French-Canadian; one who is assumed to be French.

1831		Lancaster Gaz. 16 July 4/5: Dinner was served to the Frenchman’s taste [...] he called for the bill [...] Frenchy swore that the waiter was von great cheat, to charge [etc.].
1849		Thackeray Pendennis I 231: [They] began laughing, jeering, hooting, and calling opprobrious names at the Frenchman. Some cried out ‘Frenchy! Frenchy!’ some exclaimed ‘Frogs!’.
1855		Bell’s Life in Sydney 28 Apr. 2/7: Ah! yours is the Frenchfied sort of cookery; but I don’t pretend to be a Frenchee.
1866		Belfast Morn. News 3 Dec. 4/6: [He] retires to bed, not having come into contact with one ‘Frenchy’ during the whole day.
1889		‘’Arry in Switzerland’ Punch 5 Dec. in P. Marks (2006) 98: My larf was sometimes a bit late, / And so flummoxed the Frenchies a few.
1895		L. Stuart [perf. Vesta Tilley] The Little Madmoiselle 🎵 ‘She’s no Frenchy - Liza Jane - she’s dysy from the Lane’.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 105: The average Frenchy acquires a knowledge of la savate as a means of meting the marauders of the outer boulevards in their own fashion.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 15 Oct. 4/8: Orstrians an’ Dagoes, an’ Frenchies an’ -er- Russians.
1909		W. Irwin Confessions of a Con Man 98: I packed my Frenchie to the menagerie superintendant.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 75: Frenchies, Germans, the whole caboodle of us. Chings, too.
1917		A.G. Empey Over the Top 27: For the next ten days we ‘rested,’ repairing roads for the Frenchies, drilling, and digging bombing trenches.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 458: Nor does he appear to have evolved any new generic name for his Allies – ‘Frenchies’ and ‘Belgiques’ being usual terms.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 301: And calling himself a Frenchy for the shawls, Joseph Manuo.
1936		Nottingham Eve. Post 12 Oct. 3/5: One leading bookmaker lost £60,000 [...] He said with a groan [...] ‘The worst of you Frenchies winning is that the money never comes back’.
1939		R. Chandler ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 132: I worked for a Frenchy once.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 93: GIs were helping an old Frenchie to get drunk.
1956		H. Gold Man Who Was Not With It (1965) 255: They call us Frenchies Kiskeedees because it’s qu’est-ce qu’il dit.
1967		J. Burke Till Death Us Do Part 11: There’s millions of bloody Germans [...] an bloody Frenchies over here.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 95: The mythical Frenchy who owned it all, or managed it, was also in control of our water supply.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 244: The Frenchies kept screaming ‘Charlot!’ at Charlie.
2008		Metro (London) 5 Sept. 35: We’re rooting for our hero to show these Frenchies a thing or two when it comes to the wine business.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Take this wee French lassie, for instance [...] I put a smile on it and the Frenchie’s about ready to melt.

2. as a term of direct address or a nickname.

1822		Inverness Courier 25 Apr. 2/5: John Smith, alias Frenchie [was] charged with house breaking and theft.
1847		Hants Advertiser 3 Apr. 5/1: The next defendant was James Riddett, otherwise ‘Frenchy’.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 351: Lots of pards, Frenchy, if we want them.
1866		Bury & Norwich Post 15 May 2/6: Bull and Frenchy (as we called him) and even old Nicks, who has an awful bully himself, [...] said it was a shame.
1890		H. Lawson ‘Possum’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 82: Ole Frenchy got excited while he’d play the Mascylays.
1900		R.H. Savage Brought to Bay 82: The chap what kills ‘Frenchy’ has got to kill Dave or pull ‘up stakes’ and clear the country.
1909		W. Irwin Confessions of a Con Man 98: If frenchie didn’t stop making so much noise in there his suckers would surely spot him.
1917		J. Conrad Shadow Line 298: Frenchy says there’s still a jump left in him.
1917		C. Sherwood diary 29 Aug. 🌐 Bought candy and played cards with Bernie [Barnacastle], Frenchy [Arsenält] and [Herbert] Eastman.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 226: She make fun of me and call me Frenchy because I no spik American good.
1932		P.G. Cressey Taxi-Dance Hall 103: Now ‘Frenchy’ is a good-looking little Frenchman who knows how to make love.
1941		A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll (1952) 3: I didn’t want to be called Frenchy.
1956		S. Selvon Lonely Londoners 54: He tell Frenchy how the garage business not doing so well.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 136: Hey you, Frenchy!
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 232: A Frenchman named Christien Simon-Petrie (known as ‘Frenchy’).
1991		B. Quinn Smokey Hollow 84: The main hazard was Frenchie [...] his nickname came from his black beret, the kind that every cinematic French man wore.

3. anyone seen in the street and classified as foreign.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 137/1: Frenchy (Street, 19 cent., to 1854). A term of contempt addressed to any, man with a foreign air in the streets.

4. (Aus.) the French language.

1909

Truth (Brisbane) 25 Apr. 11/3: I can parleyvoo the Frenchey.

5. something French, e.g. a play, a boat.

1915		F. Garrett diary 12 May 🌐 Horses are being landed from a Frenchie nearby.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 23 Jan. [synd. col.] A Frenchie called ‘Heart of Paris’ got itself liked all over, though it doesn’t pretend to be super.

6. (US) a Cajun.

1983

I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 45: acadians: [...] coon-ass [also coonie] [...] frenchie, -y; frog [cf. frog for French and French Canadians]; swamp-rat.

7. (W.I., St Kitts) a poor white, a descendant of the original French settlers on St Kitts who, as Roman Catholics, lost their status when the island was taken over by the Protestant British in 1690.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.