Guts

Origin of: Guts

Guts

Meaning spirit or courage is first attested from the late 19th century, while gutless meaning the opposite first appears c. 1915. To hate someone’s guts is to have a deep-seated hatred and is American, first attested from c. 1900. A gut feeling or a gut reaction meaning to have an intuition about something is also American from c. 1960.