'prissy' originates from English, formed from the noun 'priss' with the adjectival suffix '-y' (meaning 'characterized by').

'priss' appeared in earlier English as a colloquial term for a prim or affected person; it is likely influenced by or a variant of older terms such as 'prig' (Middle English 'prigge'), and eventually produced the adjective 'prissy'.

Initially it referred simply to a 'prim or affected person'; over time it came to describe the quality itself — 'overly prim or fussy' — as an adjectival sense and retained that sense in modern usage.