Feisty
The word feisty these days suggests an aggressive, determined, and admirably fierce smaller creature or person – someone or something with a great deal of spirit for their size. The connection may be not too apparent, but the word originally meant “full of farts”!
Then, it seems it came to mean “farty small dog”, finally drifting more in the modern idiom due to the unreasonable snappiness and belligerence of a lot of small dogs. Indeed, there's a brand of toy pet that uses the 'Feisty' name.
The word certainly seems to have lost its original pejorative (disapproving) aura, and become something of a compliment and badge of pride. It now seems to be shedding its “small and snappy” connotation entirely. Warrior women, for instance (and some celebrities!), are likely to be described as feisty.
It might have less appeal to people if they knew what it really meant.
Further reading
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